Is Milan with four stars already a memory?
Sergio Conceição is asking himself the same question after the latest negative results with Pulisic, Joao Felix, Leao, and Gimenez starting together. The elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Feyenoord and the defeat against Torino have made the Rossoneri’s season incredibly complicated.
And in these three matches, the "Fantastic 4" have barely managed to produce a single goal in 168 minutes together—the set-piece goal by Gimenez against the Dutch side in the return leg at San Siro. Too little, despite an increase in offensive production in terms of chances created.
Conceição still believes in a comeback to achieve the minimum seasonal objective: fourth place (or fifth, if UEFA rankings lend a hand), which guarantees a ticket to the elite European competition. Difficult, but not impossible—provided that a turning point comes as soon as Thursday in Bologna in the rescheduled match against the Rossoblù. The key to achieving this? For the coach, it’s balance, even at the cost of sacrificing one of Milan’s four musketeers. And the prime suspect is Rafa Leao.
Milan's problems:
In Turin, the Portuguese forward stayed in the locker room at halftime after an uninspired 45 minutes, not even returning to the bench to watch his teammates in the second half. What demands from Conceição did Rafa fail to meet? The usual ones: Leao doesn’t track back or recover when he loses possession and provides too little defensive contribution. These are more or less the same criticisms always directed at Milan’s number 10.
But in a more cautious setup, an "indolent" player can either be tolerated or at least covered by teammates. In a Milan with four forwards, however, that’s not the case—especially when Leao fails to make an impact offensively as his undeniable talent would suggest. Thus, in Bologna, we might see a more balanced team, but without Rafa’s surging runs down the left flank.
Impact
This wouldn’t be the first time in 2024-25. From Fonseca to Conceição, Leao has started on the bench nine times, coming on in eight of them (the only match he remained on the sidelines for the full 90 minutes was the 1-0 win over Udinese at San Siro, when Milan played with ten men from the first half after Reijnders was sent off). And in at least five of those games, he made his mark with a goal or an assist. From the first one against Lazio at the Olimpico (where he scored the 2-2 equalizer in the night of the infamous cooling break controversy with Theo Hernandez) to the latest against Verona at San Siro (where he provided the assist for Gimenez’s goal). In between, there were also goals against Empoli and Slovan Bratislava, plus the decisive assist to Abraham in the Supercoppa final in Riyadh against Inter.
Leao coming off the bench is a nightmare for opposing defenses, as his speed makes him even harder to contain against tired or already booked players. However, there’s also the other side of the coin: convincing a star like Rafa—who is also the highest-paid player in the squad—to accept a substitute role isn’t easy, especially in a difficult moment like Milan’s current one.
Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport
