Milan enter the Europa League as one of the sides expected to win it, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Last season delivered a return to Europe, but not the return the club wanted. For long stretches the Rossoneri looked like Champions League certainties, sitting among the title contenders before settling as a top-four side, and then the whole thing slipped away. This summer's overhaul across the squad was the answer to that inconsistency.
Gazzetta frames the season ahead in plain terms for both Milan and Juventus: there are no excuses, and both are expected to win the competition. A place back in the Champions League is treated as the baseline, however it arrives, but the ambition attached to this campaign runs higher than that.
The distinction Gazzetta draws is about status. In the Champions League, Milan would be among the supporting cast. In the Europa League, they go in as one of the favourites, a side with genuine reason to believe it can lift the trophy.
Gerry Cardinale is hoping for an immediate pay-off from the rebuild, and a European trophy would be the clearest form it could take. It would also be the statement Ruben Amorim needs in his first full campaign, a way to show the quality of his side while the Serie A project takes shape.
For a club that spent last season falling short of its own billing, being cast as a favourite is a different kind of pressure, and one Milan will happily take.