Portugal had to wait until right until the end of their opening game of the European Championship in order to get the winner against Czechia, and Rafael Leao had a mixed night.
According to Calciomercato.com, the win for the Portuguese had ‘two faces’: the disappointed one of Leao and the smiling one of Francisco Conceiçao, who was the hero on the night in Leipzig as he came on and scored the winner in added time.
There was great anticipation for Leao, making his debut at a European Championship after a season with 15 goals and 14 assists in 47 overall appearances for Milan. The Portuguese fans are waiting for an heir to Cristiano Ronaldo, and his potential had placed the forward among the candidates.
Roberto Martinez decided to use him in a front two with Ronaldo but with the license to drift out to the left. However, what ended up following was a performance in which he did little of note barring a couple of surges and a cross that was headed wide.
He got a yellow card for simulation, waved in his face by the Italian referee Guida, then in the 63rd minute the change came with the coach preferred to bring the curtain down on his performance by putting Diogo Jota on after the unexpected goal that gave the Czech lead scored by Provod.
There is still a lot of football left in the tournament for Leao and co. but the levels of the entire team – not just the former Lille man – must be raised.