Rafael Leao of AC Milan

CorSera: Fonseca relaunches Leao – he hopes to ‘close the gap’ with Real Madrid

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu the two teams with the most Champions League titles will face off, and Paulo Fonseca will rely on Rafael Leao.

As Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) underlines this morning, it might be the two most successful clubs in the history of the European competition squaring off, but it feels like a potential mismatch on paper.

The perception of the two clubs has changed in the last 20 years. Two decades ago it was the Rossoneri that had a higher turnover than Real Madrid but today everything has turned upside down and the gap between the two clubs from an economic point of view is incalculable.

Milan closed 2023-24 with a growth in revenues to €450m, which is positive if you look at the struggles of the past. However, Florentino Perez’s side had a turnover of more than €1billion, and that means they can go out and make big signings like Kylian Mbappè.

Of course tonight it will be 11 men against 11 men on the field, but the squad that Carlo Ancelotti has means Milan’s task is arduous there too. The Diavolo must try, knowing full well that they will then close their European campaign with four games to win on paper and that should be enough for a place in the play-offs.

The one who will have to make the difference, especially on these nights, is Rafael Leao who today returns to the starting line-up on the left wing. Last night Fonseca declared that he is confident that his compatriot can be decisive, and this would be a great night to prove it.

Tags AC Milan Rafael Leao Real Madrid Milan

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  1. Off topic but I think we should try to sign sign oshimen, sell morata and okafor, and get rid of Abraham for wages, and sell Loftus cheek for 30-35m and buy nico Paz for 15-20 and put the rest into oshimen, or get gimenez who would be a bit cheaper than we were willing to spend on zirkzee

      1. I know, I hate him so much, even if we sell a few players for 90m he wouldn’t offer anything over 50 even though we could probably get him for 70-80

        1. Because a 90M€ player is probably going to ask for something more than 6M€ net per year on wages. So far only Leao earns more than 5M€ per year and most of our new players earn less than 4M€ per year. The agent’s fees are also probably gonna be a bit higher.
          So overall, as long as we have Moncada as scout and this whole Gerry-Furlani algorithm thing, we’ll be lucky to end up with few decent players.
          To your post above, no one is going to buy Loftus-Cheek for 35M€, at most you’re going to get 15-20M€

    1. Yeah man. Getting Osimhen would be a bullseye move for Milan attack. It’ll resolve the issue of having a quality striker for a long time.
      But I doubt that our owners are ready to splash 70-80 million to Napoli, and give the player 12 million per season, tye sum he makes in Napoli!

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