The most damning image of AC Milan’s collapse came not from the scoreboard but from the stands. Seven minutes into the second half, with Atalanta’s third goal still reverberating around San Siro, thousands of supporters simply walked out. The Curva Sud had already made its feelings known before kick-off, lighting up mobile phones to spell “G. F. Out” in a choreographed protest aimed at chief executive Giorgio Furlani. When Raspadori’s strike made it 3-0, the exodus became a verdict: the club’s slide from scudetto contenders to Champions League pretenders would no longer be tolerated in silence.

On the pitch, the match was a one-sided humiliation until a desperate late rally flattered the final 3-2 scoreline. Ederson swept Atalanta ahead after seven minutes, Zappacosta doubled the lead before half-time, and the visitors continued to dominate possession and chances. Milan’s midfield was overrun, their defence porous. Only when the result seemed beyond salvage did the hosts find urgency, pulling two goals back through a penalty and a late header, but the equaliser never came. The performance, in the words of former player turned pundit Paolo Di Canio, offered “zero identity, zero enthusiasm, zero personality”.

Viewed from Milan, the crisis is both sporting and institutional. Coach Massimiliano Allegri appeared resigned after the match, lamenting a team that has taken seven points from its last eight league games and conceded five goals in its past two outings. Sporting director Igli Tare has floated the idea of a training camp to restore discipline, but the rot runs deeper. The fan base has turned on Furlani, whom the Curva Sud accuses of presiding over “the ruins of his own sporting failure”, while the squad looks devoid of belief with only two matches left to salvage a Champions League place.

That qualification, once considered a formality, is now genuinely imperilled. Milan sit fourth on 67 points, level with Roma but trailing on head-to-head, and just two points ahead of a resurgent Como. Juventus have climbed above them into third. Analysts in London note that missing out on Europe’s premier competition would deal a heavy financial blow to a club already constrained by spending limits, and would raise searching questions about the ownership’s sporting vision under RedBird Capital. For a club that won the scudetto only three years ago, the fall has been vertiginous.

What happens next will define Milan’s immediate future. They face two winnable fixtures on paper, but momentum and morale are against them. The stadium revolt suggests that even qualifying for the Champions League may no longer placate a support demanding structural change. With Furlani clinging to his post and the team in freefall, the final fortnight of the season will test whether Milan can summon one last act of defiance or whether the collapse is terminal.