Some more details have emerged regarding what led to Rafael Leao’s furious reaction after being taken off against Lazio.
In the 67th minute of the defeat to Lazio last night, Leao became very irritated, having resisted the coach’s decision to substitute him. The Portuguese was already very unhappy with Christian Pulisic, who failed to find his runs in behind on a couple of occasions, and took it out on Massimiliano Allegri.
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As Allegri tried to hug Leao, he was shoved away by the forward, before trying again. Even Mike Maignan had to come over and try to cool the former Lille man down, but without much success.
It is not the first time that Rafa has been at the centre of an incident at this stadium, with the ‘cooling break saga’ last season happening at the Olimpico too and against Lazio.
Why Leao was angry
Tommaso Turci spoke live on DAZN (via MilanNews) after the match, and he reconstructed what exactly went on.
“In the first half, he was called back by Allegri’s staff: by Landucci, but also by Magnanelli and Corradi several times. They wanted something more, especially in terms of energy. In the second half, Leao came on better, but neither he nor Pulisic were certainly shining,” he said.
“The chance that infuriated Leao was when there was space to run vertically and Pulisic didn’t pass him: Leao got very angry and told him to go to hell. The fact that he didn’t play many balls meant that this nervousness increased minute by minute. In the 67th minute, Allegri decided to substitute Leao.
“I’ll tell you a story behind the scenes: at first he didn’t want to take Leao off and thought about taking Pulisic off. Then he went to Landucci and chose to take Leao off. As he was leaving, Maignan also approached.
“Leao then explained to Allegri: ‘He didn’t give me the ball, he didn’t give me the ball’. And then he also told him to go to hell, he got angry about the substitution. He sat on the bench with Mazzoni, who tried to give him a high five.
“Leao started by throwing his jacket, kicked the icebox and even the water bottle. A very nervous Leao who wanted to make a different impact. He was angry with everyone: Pulisic, Allegri, probably even himself.”
Allegri should play him in his left wing position. Allegri is destroying Milan with his not striker formation
Unfortunately he doesn’t have much hope with Milan defense and as a defensive coach, that’s unacceptable
Oh gods, we’re going to have a full week of articles full of nonsense about this now aren’t we?
obviously!
Well, the Prima Donna has forced a choice, hasn’t he? Him or Pulisic. As an American I am glad that Pulisic will be leaving.
You do not need to be American or state to be one to be happy he is leaving. We are all here Milan fans, you can just say it 🙂
No, I am saying it because while I am an ACM fan, I will always choose country over club. I’ve never thought that Allegri was the right manager for Pulisic and I have referred to how Allegri worked with Chiesa many times. I just want to be honest as to where I am coming from.
Allegri is the coach of Milan, not Pulisic. And his first responsibility is to the club, not a single player. Not Pulisic, Not Leao.
I understand that which is exactly why I hope Pulisic leaves. What’s hard to understand about that? I don’t believe Pulisic will thrive under Allegri. Don’t waste the best years of your career playing in a situation that doesn’t fit you? Allegri is Allegri but I don’t think Pulisic should be stuck with him.
yeah take your American below average Chelsea bench warmer along with them american BUMS who run the club along with ur baseball knowledge and get the F out of Milan. None of us wanted u baseball bums in there anyway. Just get the F out
I am glad to go except when I need an afternoon of watching football that puts me asleep.
Demoor — you’re a pretty angry guy, aren’t you?
You’re right, Puli is clearly a bum with only 42 goals and 25 assists in two and a half seasons at AC Milan. Obviously he shouldn’t even be allowed on the same pitch as Leão. And heaven forbid he misses a service to the almighty Leão, who surely would have buried it in the back of the net — given his unmatched consistency in Serie A.
In case it isn’t obvious, that’s sarcasm.
The only real consistency Leão has shown over the last two seasons has been his attitude problems. Milan needs to figure out how to fix that, or it might be time to move on.
The real issue is that his career is finished and he has become unsellable, especially with his chronic injury. When was the last time any club showed actual interest in him? What a toxic waste of space, we might as well accept whatever offer arrives.
Well said men, Leao is done as a player : lazy, no motivation and unsellable. Only a fool of a club would make a offer for a lazy player like Leao.
One word: Saudis. The only option for him now.
Rafa je igrač manje za nas u svakoj utakmici jer je lijen.Pulišić barem svoje istrči do kraja.Prodajte lijenčina.
Så här beter man sig inte. Han hade kunnat spela som Isaksen och utgjort ett hot. Han gladde ingen och blev utbytt. Försäljning nästa.
Well, one of leao or Pulisic should go.. Or both. Can’t complain about allegri, whether you like it or not he bring result. With 2 or 3 reinforcement, milan will be scudetto contender next year…
Bring result? Failed miserably again yesterday. Just like he did against Cremonese, Parma, Sassuolo etc.
You do understand how numbers work right? were sitting second, and fairly comfortable for CL. Kids these days, too much tiktok less education
lol@too much tiktok less education
Keep losing points and I’d see how comfortable you are with the chasing packs
Kids these days seem to be happy just to participate. I grew up with Milan winning trophies. I don’t care about being 2nd, 3rd or 4th. It’s all about winning. Maybe you should be awarded for commenting here, right?
Yes, at least Milan sit in second place now. Look where Fonseca or concecaio was? Do you really believe Milan with the current squat will compete for the scudetto? Come on…
Leicester had far better squad than the other EPL clubs when they won the championship a decade ago, right?
Which one is realistic, comparing this Milan with last year Milan or comparing Milan with a different club at a different decade at different league?
Last year we lacked quality players such as Ballon d’Or -winner Modric, Rabiot etc. Theo was disrupting the spirit and Mike had an awful season. It was also Pavlovic’s first season in Italy. Plenty of differences in the team compared to a year ago.
Leao hasn’t been good and of course we all know his deficiencies have been well documented.
That being said, Allegri hasn’t helped either. Playing a 2 man striker formation isn’t the best for the crop of players we have at the moment. Leao’s best position is on the left. Being left in the box with few touches unable to create play can be frustrating for a playmaker like Leao.
However, I do understand that a change of the formation will have a direct bearing on the defence and midfield departments.
There is zero chance that Allegri will change from a 3-5-2. He is a midfielders’ and defenders’ coach.
The team also doesn’t help itself when it surrenders a first-half goal – the bottom-half-of-the-table teams bunker in, and neither Leao nor Pulisic will ever have enough room to operate.
Well, it looks like Allegri’s successful run of playing his players in positions they don’t play has come to an end…
Not wanting to be annoying, but it bugs me.
“the former Lille man”.
He’s played there for 1 year and has been with Milan now for seven fkn years.
Well this is absurd. How many runs does everybody make on a team that do not get a pass? Laeo made zero runs in the first half. It would not shock me to see both Laeo and Pulisic sold during the Summer…this is the type of thing that can divide a team.
“Laeo made zero runs in the first half.”
Nope. I saw him run at least once into an offside position waaaay too early when Saelemaeker was carrying the ball. That’s why they don’t pass the ball to him. He’s already in the offside position.
None of us should want either of them to leave the team. The whole team stunk against Lazio and as the two players responsible the take the brunt of the heat from the fans. The passing from every player stunk, including Modric, but especially from the wingers and Jashari. The most successful athletes will tell you cannot dwell on defeats. Move on and prepare for the next match. We as fans should do the same and stop the bickering and move on.
Sell Leao and Pulisic with Estupinan Gimenez Salemakers