The QS newspaper on newsstands this morning published the following headline:
"No Leao, no party. Now the Portuguese is indispensable."
The initial benching of number 10 on Sunday night in Naples made quite a stir, especially because later Sergio Conceiçao was forced to bring him on at the start of the second half. And with the Portuguese on the field, Milan changed completely compared to the very disappointing first half. Tomorrow in the Coppa Italia derby against Inter, which is valid for the first-leg semifinal, Leao should return to the starting lineup.
Interviewed by DAZN after the Napoli match, Conceiçao explained:
"We had already prepared the match without Leao, I’m not saying he didn’t play because the doctor told me something. After the national team, like Santi, he only did two training sessions. Actually, Santi did just one, because he came back with a very swollen ankle. Anyway, all these things happen at Milanello, people don’t know about it. The team has potential, quality. We always talk about this balance, it’s true. If we have to press higher, then we sometimes have to stay one-on-one in our defensive line, you can’t have numerical superiority if you push forward. They managed to get out of our press too easily in the first half. Then we corrected it and had a different attitude. In football, you need technique, quality, but also courage, desire, the right attitude to be present. Sometimes we need to take responsibility for man-to-man marking. The team has quality, I have a lot of trust. I have a healthy environment in the group," as relayed via Milannews.it.
