Rafa Leao is like that, he seems detached when he is actually engaged, it looks like everything slides off him, but it doesn’t. He listens and absorbs every signal. Rafa smiles on the pitch even when he makes mistakes, but often that smile hides anger or frustration.
He was smiling for real two nights ago, when he burned Ndicka for pace and provided the assist of the match, a moment Milan shared on social media in slow motion for fans to enjoy. And he was still smiling when he returned to the dressing room and found everyone applauding him, all standing for him and Maignan, who had stayed on the San Siro pitch for post-match interviews. Rafa and Mike were named the best players of the night against Roma. Leao for inspiring Pavlovic’s winning goal, Maignan for saving Dybala’s penalty. Rafa is well liked by the group and the feeling is mutual, without barriers between stars and young players. He listens to Modric and posts about Bartesaghi on Instagram, as he did recently.
Now Leao stands between two stages:
The Portuguese is a talent still with more to express, yet one of Milan’s senior figures. Apart from Gabbia, who grew up in the academy but returned from a loan at Villarreal, Leao is Milan’s longest-serving player. And he shows leadership on the pitch. It used to be others who encouraged him, but against Roma it was him clapping to lift teammates struggling around him. Those applauses were later returned in the dressing room. He helped the team in other ways too, like with the perfect assist for Pavlovic in the box. Rafa moved out of his comfort zone on the left flank, leaving the striker role to a centre-back. With that key pass on Sunday, Rafa became one of only three forwards, alongside Dybala and Lautaro Martínez, to have both scored and assisted in each of the last seven Serie A seasons (since 2019/20, his first with Milan), as pointed out by La Gazzetta dello Sport in this morning's print edition.
What are Leao's numbers?
Beyond the assists, there are also goals: three in this Serie A start affected by a calf injury. Three goals in four league starts, three full games. In Bergamo against Atalanta, hip pain limited him to one half. In the Coppa Italia, he scored again in his only appearance, 17 minutes against Bari before going off injured. His total minutes this season are 380, with one goal every 126 minutes and one decisive play (goal or assist) every 95 minutes. A scoring rate above his usual standards. Leao has played 18,102 minutes for Milan, with 74 goals, one every 245 minutes. This Rafa is doing new things, including scoring penalties: the one against Fiorentina was his first for Milan from the spot.
It was also unusual that Rafa stayed on the pitch against Roma despite being short of full fitness, leaving only in stoppage time with cramps, amid chants and applause from San Siro. In many past games he had ended looking like he hadn’t given his all. This time was different.
Then came his words, which carried more weight than usual. On TV he said, "I am available for the team, as Allegri asks: as a striker, playmaker, winger… however the coach wants, the important thing is to help." And privately, he told Tare something similar. "He promised us a great game, he’s a good person as well as a player who wins matches on his own," revealed the sporting director before kickoff. Finally, Rafa’s messages to his over seven million followers summed it up, with red and black hearts and the words "Nothing more."
