Those who thought that Rafael Leao could regain confidence and happiness with the national team were left disappointed: following a poor start to the season with Milan, the Rossoneri number 10 also struggled with the Portuguese national team, to the point of being substituted at halftime during the match against Croatia after a rather lackluster performance.
Yesterday, Portuguese newspapers were not kind to him:
"Leao too inconsistent (...), suffering from a clear lack of confidence",
That was published by 'A Bola' who gave him a rating set at 5.
In short, the breakthrough with the national team didn't happen, and this is certainly a problem for Milan, which quickly needs the best version of Leao.
This was reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport this morning, which also noted that tomorrow the Portuguese player will have another match with his national team before returning to Milanello to begin preparations for the game against Venezia.
From there, the revival of the Rossoneri and of Rafa must begin, as he needs to shift gears after a disappointing start to the season, despite his goal against Lazio and assist to Pulisic against Parma.
After being benched against Lazio, Leao, barring any surprising developments, is expected to start again against Venezia, a match that precedes two crucial clashes against Liverpool and Inter. After the controversies and heavy criticism over the infamous cooling break incident against Lazio, the Portuguese forward must turn things around and give a boost to both his season and Milan's.
