AC Milan's debacle in European return highlights issues under new coach Ruben Amorim

ROME (AP) — AC Milan used to rule in Europe. These days, the Rossoneri hardly put up a fight.

After missing out completely on last season’s continental competitions, Milan is in crisis again after kicking off its Europa League campaign by losing 2-0 at home to Benfica.

The seven-time European champion was whistled off the field after Wednesday's defeat.

“We’re creating more problems for ourselves when we have the ball than when the opponent has it,” said new Milan coach Ruben Amorim — who lasted just 14 months at Manchester United in his previous job. “We’re not creating.”

Gonçalo Ramos , the Portugal forward who was signed from Paris Saint-Germain for a club-record fee of more than 70 million euros ($80 million) and was the most expensive player of the entire Serie A transfer market, has gone three straight matches without even putting a shot on goal.

Ramos — who was a productive backup striker as PSG won consecutive Champions League titles — has scored only one goal for Milan, which came in Serie A against last-place Venezia.

Amorim was hired after Milan cleaned house and fired coach Massimiliano Allegri and chief executive Giorgio Furlani when last season’s campaign ended with the club missing out on a Champions League berth by one point.

Amorim prefers an attacking style that comes in sharp contrast with Allegri’s defensive tactics. He acknowledged after Milan’s first ever loss to Benfica — in seven matches stretching back to the clubs’ first meeting in the 1963 European Cup final — that many of Milan’s players don’t fit in with his style of soccer.

Milan has struggled particularly in first halves — having conceded two first-half goals at Lazio on Saturday before Diego Moreira struck back with a second-half brace to secure a draw.

“I don’t know if it’s a mental issue, but it’s the second match in a row where in the first half we're not in the game,” said Amorim, who has come under criticism for his lineup choices.

Stretching back to last season, Milan has lost four of its last home games in all competitions — conceding at least two goals in all four defeats.

Amorim hasn’t relied much on the 41-year-old former Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric , who never left the bench — not even to warm up for a possible substitution appearance — against Benfica.

“I’ve got to rotate the squad, especially with a 40-year-old player,” Amorim said.

Amorim has preferred the physicality provided by United States midfielder Yunus Musah in midfield to Modric’s passing abilities and field vision.

Christian Pulisic has still not started a match for Milan this season after sustaining a bone bruise along with microfractures to his tibia and fibula when the U.S. exited the World Cup in a loss to Belgium in July.

Some of the few positive notes for Milan have been the play of 19-year-old attacking midfielder Alphadjo Cisse, who scored in a 1-1 draw with Juventus this month and could be tapped for an Italy debut; and Moreira, the Belgium winger signed for 50 million euros ($58.5-million) from Strasbourg.

In Serie A, Milan has won two of its opening four matches and trails early leaders Roma and Inter Milan by four points.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a special adviser to Milan’s American owner Gerry Cardinale, has been absent from the team for long stretches lately, having shown up at the club’s training center this week for the first time in six months.

Antonio Conte, the coach who has won titles at Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli, was in the stands for the Benfica loss.

Could Conte — who historically does not like to step into jobs mid-season — be an option if Cardinale decides to remove Amorim?

If the losses keep piling up at the San Siro, perhaps so.

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