Costacurta sees promise in Amorim's Milan but not yet a Scudetto side
Alessandro Costacurta praised Milan's attacking approach after their 2-0 win at Udinese, but the former defender argues Ruben Amorim's side are not yet built for a title challenge.
Alessandro Costacurta says Milan are showing genuine promise under Ruben Amorim, but he stopped short of calling them Scudetto contenders after watching their 2-0 win away at Udinese on Sunday.
Milan remain unbeaten through eight Serie A matches this season, a record they share with Inter, Lazio and Roma, Football Italia reports. It marks the first time in the competition's history that four clubs have gone unbeaten over the opening eight rounds of a campaign.
The win at Stadio Friuli, with Omari Hutchinson among the scorers, came days after a disappointing Europa League defeat to AFC Bournemouth. It pulled Milan level on points with third-placed Roma, four points adrift of Inter and Lazio at the top of the table.
Four unbeaten teams, one gap still to close
A league table with four unbeaten sides after eight games tells a story of competitive balance at the top of Serie A, but it does not by itself identify the strongest team. Costacurta, working as a pundit for Sky on the Udinese fixture, drew exactly that distinction.
Milannews.it quoted him saying he was impressed by what he had seen but unconvinced Milan belonged with the division's genuine title favourites. "I like the attitude they're showing on the pitch. However, I'm still not seeing a Scudetto team. I think there are a couple of other sides ahead of them at the moment, but it's really early and this is a team that is showing promise," he said.
That reading matters because an unbeaten record can flatter a side still finding its identity. Milan have not lost in the league, but the margin separating them from the top two is real, and Costacurta's point is that results and quality of performance are not yet telling the same story.
Milan's attacking identity in both phases
Where Costacurta did find something concrete to praise was in the way Milan move the ball and press without it. He described a team that pushes numbers forward consistently, regardless of which phase of play they are in.
"That's what I see, a team with promise. A lot of running forwards. What I'm noticing is this offensive drive, not just when they have to recover the ball, but also when they're trying to build. I believe that this is the biggest difference they've shown so far. They go at it all the time," he said.
That is a significant observation about structure rather than just effort. A team that commits runners during build-up and maintains that same aggression during the transition to win the ball back is harder to defend against consistently, because opponents cannot simply sit deep against one phase and expect relief in the other. Costacurta also noted the players appeared closely aligned with Amorim's instructions, saying he was "seeing players who are following their coach in a very particular way," via Milannews.it.
Bartesaghi's patience rewarded under a shifting system
Amorim has not settled on a single formation since arriving at Milan, rotating systems and personnel as he searches for the right balance. Davide Bartesaghi is one player who has had to wait for his chances amid that experimentation.
He was one of Milan's standout performers against Udinese, and Costacurta singled him out directly. "Bartesaghi had a wonderful game. I was enthusiastic about his performance because he got himself involved so much and always did so with quality. It seems like that's the plan: Attack whether you're on or off the ball," he said.
Bartesaghi's involvement fits the broader pattern Costacurta identified: a full-back contributing to both phases rather than simply holding a defensive line. It also reflects a wider theme of the season for Milan, in which squad depth has been tested across competitions. In the Europa League, Alphadjo Cisse scored a hat-trick during a win at Salzburg in mid-October, with Bartesaghi among the teammates celebrating on the pitch, underlining how Amorim has leaned on different combinations as fixtures have piled up.
Taken together, Costacurta's assessment is one of cautious encouragement rather than full endorsement. Milan have the attacking patterns and the squad cohesion to be competitive, in his view, but the gap to Inter and Lazio at the top, and to Roma just above them on goal difference equivalent terms, remains the clearer measure of where this Milan side currently stands.