After a close look at the numbers, the reason AC Milan and Juventus missed out on Champions League qualification becomes clear even for readers shifting from BD Cricket to Serie A results: both giants performed poorly against teams outside the league’s top six. Many people had criticized Inter Milan for struggling in major head-to-head matches, including two defeats in the Milan derby, but the Nerazzurri were almost flawless against weaker opponents. That consistency became the key reason they were able to control the title race.
By contrast, AC Milan and Juventus paid the price because they repeatedly dropped points against mid-table and lower-table sides. For clubs with their history, resources, and ambitions, those were not small mistakes. They were the kind of avoidable slips that slowly turn a promising season into a missed opportunity. In this area, the data speaks for itself.
During the past season, AC Milan stayed inside the top four from the fourth round onward, but their campaign ended in deep disappointment when they lost 2-1 at home to Cagliari on the final day. Against teams outside the top six, the Rossoneri had 84 available points but collected only 51, meaning they left 33 points on the table. Even more worrying, most of these dropped points came at San Siro. Milan suffered damaging home defeats against sides such as Cremonese, Parma, Udinese, and Atalanta, while the final loss to Cagliari became the fatal blow.
Against the top six, however, Milan’s performance was relatively solid. They took 19 points from a possible 30 and lost only once, away to Napoli in April. That contrast makes their failure even harder to accept. The issue was not that Milan could not compete with strong teams. The real problem was that they lacked control, focus, and ruthlessness in fixtures they were expected to win. For followers who move between BD Cricket updates and European football, this was a classic case of a team tripping over the smaller hurdles after surviving the bigger ones.
Juventus faced a similar situation. Against mid-table and lower-table opponents, they collected 57 points from a possible 84, which was not enough for a club chasing Europe’s biggest stage. They were also held to two draws by already relegated Verona, results that looked even more costly by the end of the season. In matches against the top six, Juventus performed worse than Milan. Along with two defeats to Como, they also lost to Napoli and Inter Milan, leaving their overall record too fragile to support a serious Champions League push.
In the end, Milan and Juventus failed to qualify for the Champions League not because of one single collapse, but because of repeated weakness against teams they should have beaten. A long season is often decided by these ordinary-looking fixtures, and there is no room to keep throwing away points against clubs lower in the table. If both giants want to return to Europe’s highest stage, they must make clear improvements in this area. As attention shifts across global sports schedules and BD Cricket keeps its own pace, the lesson from Serie A is simple: big clubs cannot live on reputation alone, and consistency against smaller teams is often what separates success from regret.