The summer of 2023 brought with it lots of activity in the transfer market. A heavily renewed squad, especially in midfield, saw Loftus-Cheek, Musah, Pulisic and Reijnders come in and the arrivals of Chukwueze, Jović and Okafor in forward positions. The start to the campaign was strong, with three wins out of three - against Bologna, Torino and Roma - with the team able to react well even after defeat in the derby. At the second international break, we were top of the table on 21 points after eight games. In the next four league fixtures, however, only two draws came: a sequence of results that slowed us down despite ending 2023 with a clean sweep at San Siro. At the halfway point, we were firmly in 3rd place sitting on 39 points, and the rest of the winter saw the team in good form in the league: from January to the March break, we earned 26 points in eleven games, consolidating 2nd place and bringing qualification to the 2024/25 Champions League much closer, a result that eventually was secured well before the end of the season. In the Coppa Italia, we brushed aside Cagliari in the round of 16 (4-1) before being knocked by Atalanta in the quarter-finals, eventual finalists of the competition. The season ended on 25 May and, above all, with farewells paid at the end of AC Milan v Salernitana to three great figures from the past few years: Olivier Giroud, Simon Kjær and Coach Stefano Pioli.
The draw in Nyon certainly wasn't kind to the Rossoneri after being drawn into the 2023/24 Champions League group of death: Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle made up Group F. The European campaign started off with two 0-0 draws, at San Siro against the English side (who had signed Sandro Tonali in the summer) and in Germany, and the hopes of qualifying reduced after a 3-0 defeat in Paris. However, in the most difficult period of the season, the team reacted with pride and came from behind to beat the French side at San Siro with a splendid 2-1 win (Leão and Giroud on the scoresheet). The home defeat (3-1) against Borussia Dortmund took away the possibility of being masters of our destiny and a win in the last group fixture, away to Newcastle, didn't take us higher than 3rd place, meaning a Europa League spot. 2024 in Europe got off to a good start, getting through the play-offs against Stade Rennais (5-3 on aggregate) and then the round of 16 against Slavia Praha, winning both the first leg at San Siro and the return leg in the Czech Republic. However, the run ended with an unprecedented Italian derby against Roma in the quarter-finals, when two narrow wins saw De Rossi's team come out on top.
