Milan are in crisis. The 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth in the Europa League, a match wrecked by Mike Maignan's red card before the half-hour mark, has exposed deep problems under Ruben Amorim and left the club's ownership visibly alarmed. Gerry Cardinale flew to Udine to be present for Sunday's Serie A fixture, a signal that patience at boardroom level is thinning after a result Amorim himself described as "negative in every aspect."

The injury situation makes the picture worse. Gonçalo Ramos, Samuel Chukwueze, Matteo Gabbia, and Alexis Saelemaekers were already sidelined before Thursday's game. Since the Bournemouth defeat, Adrien Rabiot, Diego Moreira, and Mario Gila have also gone down, leaving Amorim with a threadbare squad for a match against an Udinese side that, despite five straight league defeats, now looks like a genuine banana skin.

Ramos has recovered and is expected to lead the attack at the Bluenergy Stadium, which offers a small boost. But the broader picture is troubling. Milan sit fifth in Serie A with 15 points from seven games, and the squad depth required to sustain a title challenge is clearly not there. Maignan, the captain whose red card triggered the Bournemouth collapse, publicly apologised the following day. The club backed him after racist abuse on social media, but the damage to confidence is real. With the Derby della Madonnina against Inter now just over a week away, Milan need a result at Udinese badly.