After the 4-2 win against Liverpool, Massimiliano Allegri stated that AC Milan have significantly raised the bar, and he also made sure to praise Rafael Leao for his contributions.
Milan headed into today’s game with the desire to show more than they did in the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday. It’s safe to say that they succeeded, finding the back of the net four times against Liverpool in Hong Kong.
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Rafael Leao bagged the opening goal, assisted the second one (scored by Ruben Loftus-Cheek) and helped set up Noah Okafor’s third goal. It was no surprise that we named him the MOTM of the game, as such, but several players impressed.
Allegri’s reaction
Speaking at the press conference after the game, as transcribed by MilanNews, Allegri praised the team for raising the bar of the performance. He also highlighted that Leao could have a very important season ahead.
What’s your impression of the performance?
“Leao played very well as a centre-forward, and the whole team played well in general. The players have been working hard this pre-season.”
How was your experience in Hong Kong?
“It was a wonderful evening, there were 50,000 fans in the stadium. It was a great match, the stadium is a wonderful facility, and we’re happy to have played here.”
What aspect of the team’s performance did you like the most? What’s your take on Leao as a centre-forward? It might not be his role, but he had a great game…
“The best and most important thing I’m happy about in these first 20 days of training is that the team has a proactive attitude. They have significantly raised the level of suffering, and this means that when we have the ball, we try to play.
“And when we don’t, we all work together, we defend very well as a team. As for Leao, he’s a strong player, he has extraordinary qualities. I think he’s growing, he’s at the right age to have a strong season.”
Start SUCKING UP TO LEAO ! BABYSIT THE MILLIONARE ! I do hope his play continues into the season.
I have a bad feeling about our new LB :p he’s slow af lol
No, he isn’t. Frimpong is amongst the top ten fastest players in the world right now. Even faster than Theo.
Theo isn’t that fast anyway. On paper (or official EUFA stats) Pavlovic is as fast as him. 🙂
As I said several times, Leao will be the key of this Allegri’s Milan. Hope that we won’t be too dependent on him like with Ibra back in the days.
And RLC is Allegri new Boateng.
After Barcelona, Ibra had it put in his contract to be a guaranteed starter given fitness was good.
There were no guarantees in that Barcelona side
I think Leao will have a great season. Allegri won’t be pampering him too much and he finally has to come out of his comfort zone which will make him grow.
I don’t think anyone is faster than leao. He only runs as fast as he needs to. He had a similar body type to Usain bolt. On that goal of his he’s just taking his time and on his assist he was also taking his time yet still blowing by everyone. He didn’t go full speed so the timing with the rest of the team is good. He runs like Vince Young used to, his stride is so large it looks like he’s jogging.