A year ago, he had made three appearances in the first five games of the league. This season, he has three in the first six games. Ante Rebic is experiencing a deja vu situation, but for very different reasons.
As highlighted by Calciomercato.com, the striker arrived at Milan after a summer of tension and misunderstanding at Eintracht Frankfurt. This, in fact, characterized the first half of his season with the Rossoneri.
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If last summer Rebic was at fault, you can’t say the same this year. Dislocating his elbow, he was struck by bad luck and needed a long recovery time. The goal, however, doesn’t change: he needs to work hard to recover.
He had to chase last year, he must chase this year: in the 4-3-3 he never found his space, post-lockdown with the 4-2-3-1 he started to fly. Now the formation is the same, only one interpreter has changed: Rafael Leao is finding continuity in that role.
Yet, in his way of understanding the role, Rebic is unique. Leao scores, but only when he plays as a centre-forward in place of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Not from the wings, where he instead delivers assists.
Rebic, ironically enough, scores more when he plays as a winger and also provides assists. For this reason, Milan need him running on the left flank, making the most of the space that Ibrahimovic leaves.
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