Brahim Diaz might not have got himself a goal or an assist during the 4-0 dismantling of Lazio at San Siro last night, but few could argue that he looked back to his best.
After the sensational impact he made in the derby off the bench, La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes how the Spaniard also left his mark in the Coppa Italia match against Lazio. He had a big impact in the No.10 role, literally splitting Sarri’s core in half on multiple occasions.
The paper hypothesises that the 22-year-old might have actually found a more useful role, one that allows him to waste less energy and to punch effectively between the lines, winning the ball and throwing himself into often tight spaces, beating opponents with quick dribbling and a low centre of gravity.
Of course there has been strong suggestions that Covid certainly had an impact on his condition, but now the feeling is that tactically something might have clicked. Pioli will be hoping that Brahim has returned the player who, at the beginning of the season, had enchanted everyone with his class and his ability to create numerical superiority.
He is still looking for his first goal since September but he does so without urgency or particular pressures, because if he is giving Milan some creativity and spark inside the final third and in transition then he is doing his job.
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