Rafael Leao could have been the hero at the Stadium against Juventus last night, but instead he missed two rather simple chances, especially the first one on Pulisic’s assist from inside the six-yard box. The run in behind he made on the second miss, set up by Modric’s brilliant assist, was a striker’s movement, but it was the only notable moment from the Portuguese in that role.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport explained this morning, his transition into Milan’s starting center forward is still ongoing and it feels like it will take time for him to understand what Allegri expects. After years of playing wide on the left, he now has to learn how to play with his back to goal and attack depth. Staying at Milanello during this break would have been useful to improve his condition and keep working on the new role, but he has been called up by Portugal for matches against Ireland and Hungary, so he will return to Carnago only next week.
After the match, Allegri repeated several times that Leao is still behind in terms of fitness after being out for more than a month with a calf injury: "This was his first real week of work, he was out for 45 days. Last Sunday I had to bring him on out of necessity after Estupiñán’s red card and Pulisic’s substitution so I wouldn’t waste a change, and he didn’t do badly. Then he worked well during the week, he needs to find his condition. It’s important that he does so quickly because we need him a lot, we need Nkunku too, they are technical players who can decide games for us.” On the new role, the Livorno-born coach explained: "It’s not a completely new position for him, if I’m not mistaken he played as a striker at Lille when he was younger. The movement he made on Modric’s pass was a true striker’s run, a wonderful diagonal. But when he gets there, a player like him must score. The technical quality is clear, you saw it when he shot from midfield, that’s a genius play. He needs to make the step where he understands that when he gets into those positions, he must be decisive because he is crucial for the team.”
