Massimiliano Allegri has provided an update on Rafael Leao’s condition, following a couple of appearances during which he hasn’t looked top-notch.
It’s been a rather strange season for Leao. While eight goals and two assists would suggest something else, Milan’s No.10 has struggled to find his groove with the team. For example, he did brilliantly with the assist for Adrien Rabiot against Como, but none of his other actions were successful.
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In many ways, it’s the complete opposite of what we have become used to seeing from Leao, now providing concrete contributions rather than ‘flashy’ ones. That said, these struggles might have something to do with his physical status.
Allegri requests improvement
Leao has missed eight games through injury this season and famously played at 50-60% against Cagliari due to this. His physical status allows him to be decisive in the box, but when it comes to the trademark runs down the left flank, it’s not as easy.
During his press conference earlier today, Allegri was asked about how far the forward can go and made it clear that the physical issues are currently holding him back…
“Where he will end up depends on him. It’s normal for a player like Leao to be decisive. However, he needs to improve his physical condition, because today he’s available but he’s not in great shape,” the manager stated.
Yep, that’s the third time in as many days that Allegri himself has confirmed that Rafa has been playing injured, but the haters here keep thinking it’s just me making it up and trying to find excuses for him, and keep calling him lazy when he obviously has been physically unable to run. A truly lazy player would take advantage of this to ask to stay out; Rafa however has been making himself available to help the team, even though he is not well. That’s the very opposite of being lazy. Their argument is, if he’s playing, then he’s fine. Nope. Because we are so thin upfront with all forwards being either injured or injury-prone, Allegri has been forced to start or sub in Leão when his condition has been far from ideal, with not enough time to heal.
Has he been playing injured for all 7 years as a Milan player, because thats how long he has been lazy?
Milan fans didn’t start calling Leao lazy this season. He has been called lazy L for years.
He’s been called lazy by ignorant and racist fans (quite the stereotype, to call a black player “lazy”) who don’t understand his characteristics: bursts of speed, periods of rest (not unlike what Lionel Messi does, who never tracks back and is static for long periods and then suddenly bursts ahead and scores).
Rafa is also called lazy because he rarely tracks back. Well, he sucks at defending so what’s the point? Even when he tried to track back, he was no good at it and then, that decreased his offensive potential. The best use of his skills is to keep him higher, to collect long passes and burst ahead when he receives the ball. People who don’t see it and think that this is proof of laziness, just don’t understand the game and don’t know what coaches and their tactics ask of Leão.
Also, if Leão were a total, complete player able to not only score and assist a lot (like he does) but also of tracking back and defending well, sorry, but our mid-income club wouldn’t be able to afford him. He’d be playing for Real Madrid, PSG, or Manchester United. You need to understand that Rafa is who he is, not close to perfect but very helpful to Milan, and we are lucky to have him; him not being close to perfect (defending being a glaring weakness for him) is precisely why we can afford him.
In all his years as a Milan player except in his very first season, he has ALWAYS placed in the top 5 of all 600+ Serie A players for goal contributions (goals + assists). He has consistently placed either first or second among all Milan players for that (the first one has varied along the seasons among Rafa himself, Ibra, Giroud, and Pulisic but Rafa was always up there).
He is also one of only 4 players in the entire history of the club (yes, since 1899) with simultaneously 50+ goals and 20+ assists, the other three being Kaká, Gianni Rivera, and Seedorf. If you have any notion of Milan’s history, you will know that this is pretty good company! Just this stat alone, being in the top 4 of all Milan players in this since the club was founded, makes of Leão a bona fide legendary Milan player.
If that’s being lazy, then give me lazy. You guys are a disgrace, constantly berating one of our best players, not only currently, but all-time.
Even injured like he’s been almost all season, and even missing several games and several minutes, Rafa with his 8 goals and 3 assists so far, thus a total of 11 goal contributions, is still Milan’s second for that, only behind Pulisic who has 12 (10 goals and 2 assists).
Ignorant fans calling him lazy doesn’t make him so. Certainly our head coach doesn’t agree and keeps starting him even though Allegri has been repeatedly acknowledging that Rafa is not physically well. Allegri knows that Rafa can be quite decisive and has rescued the team multiple times in his Milan tenure, scoring tying or winning goals that earned us 1 or 3 points.
See, people are so biased against him, that some fans kept berating him for *supposedly* focusing on fashion and rap music rather than on training, with *no evidence whatsoever* that such has ever been the case; just a guess out of their prejudices. Allegri is known for being a disciplinarian. He made the managers get rid of Jimenez allegedly because Jimenez showed up late for training, three times. Allegri scolded him twice; the third time it happened, Allegri kicked him out of the team for good. That is, if Leão were neglectful of his training duties, Allegri would never allow it. Meaning, it never happened, given that he was *not* kicked out. No Milan official has ever even insinuated that Rafa didn’t take his training seriously. These prejudicial fans just took it out of their hats. Obviously Leão only focuses on fashion and rap music during his free time, like many young men his age like to do.
While some Milan players were scolded for showing up in night clubs, that was never Rafa’s case. He’s been nothing other than highly professional regarding his training responsibilities.
Still, people assume the opposite… is it just because he is black, therefore draws racist assumptions from haters???
And before you think I’m pulling some sort of race card, I’m white. But I’m not racist. Those who call him lazy, I suspect that they are. Or if they aren’t, then they are just ignorant and don’t understand the game. I’m glad that those “fans” are not members of our coaching staff or managerial staff (yes, because they often ask for Rafa to be sold… when much the opposite, the managers slapped a 150 Million Euro release clause in his contract, exactly to prevent any other clubs from poaching him away from us.
So, coaches and managers know Rafa’s value for the club… but ignorant “fans” here apparently think that they know better. I shake my head.
My problems with Rafa were last season when he fell into the Theo black hole and was a bad teammate with a bad attitude. That seems to have been an anomaly and more reflective of the overall toxic environment around the entire club. That, along with the horrible state of the defense, was why Max is needed for this season. He needed to rebuild an actual team.
Only racist fans call him lazy, Thank goodness you can relate
LOL. When everything else fails, bring out the Racist card. Sure, eeeeveryone is a racist nowadays.
Couldn’t agree more @Luigi on the op. Plus where he plays he using slower twitch muscles compared to on the Wong where he can sprint fully and utilize his characteristics. This is as a result off poor planning re: only one true striker option for a two striker system we seem to be playing smh
To je istina ali ima još nešto !! On je krilo a ne centarfor !! Prije je sudjelovao u 50% napada po ljevoj strani , driblao ,trčao i pretrčavo svoje suparnike !!!! Sada on kao centarfor leži u vrhu napada trči od igrača do igraća obrambemo a u napadu čeka centaršut ili dubinsku loptu kojih uopće nema kad lošiji suparnici igraju bunker !! Milan ruku na srce nema IGRU osim one prema svom golu i dodavanja unedogled u mjestu !! VRATITE LEAA NA KRILO i tek tada se stvari mogu UBRZAT
Yep.
But then again the main pastime around here is slagging off Milan players so what do you expect?
I love Leao, but to say that calling him lazy is “racist” is a whole other level of stupidity.
Not at all. “The black guy is lazy, into weird fashion, and into rap music.” How is that NOT racist? The only stupidity here, is this comment of yours.
I’m not saying that everybody who criticizes him is racist. I specifically said, either racist, OR ignorant of the game and of this player’s characteristics.
But yes, there is ENORMOUS racism in Italian football.
Three examples:
People say Kean is “not really Italian because he is black.”
Objective stats show that Italian refs, all of them white, distribute significantly more yellow and red cards to black players than to white players.
Lazio fans have drawn swastikas with coreography on the stands (by the way, many Verona and Cagliari fans are notorious for also being white supremacists.
Stupidity is NOT seeing it.
Are you Italian? If you are not, you’re excused because maybe you just don’t know that these things unfortunately happen in Italian football. But if you are and you refuse to see it… well, that’s a whole other level of stupidity.
KFBR392’s comment sounds like someone with a low-context, low-information background and saying “i dont wanna think so much and f yall for doing so”
“Black this, black that”, Luigi is the most racist user in this article.
Nonsense. Obviously you didn’t understand what I meant. *I* never called Rafa those things. I deplore and denounce those who do, and I defend him because he is unfairly criticized.
You don’t understand what racism is. Using the word black or African doesn’t make someone a racist. Attributing negative traits or behaviour to someone because of their race is racism. It’s clear from reading the comments that’s you’re not educated and Luigi clearly is.