Rafael Leao faces the uneasy task of following up his excellent 2021-22 campaign with a season that is potentially even better, a report claims.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recalls how Leao scored many important goals during the Scudetto-winning season on his way to being named the league MVP, such as the winner against Sampdoria at San Siro to move to the top spot and the goal to take the lead against Atalanta at home in the penultimate game.
He scored 11 league goals last season, amassing double figures in both goals and assists across all competitions, but in many ways there is a lot of similarities about the pressure Leao is facing the repeat those successes and the ones that Milan are facing as a whole.
The Rossoneri went behind in the first half of both of their first two games this season (versus Udinese and Atalanta), which is worrying for a side that conceded only 31 goals in 38 league matches in 2021-22 which was the joint-least along with Napoli.
Milan battled to get a draw in their most recent game in Bergamo, which was some way away from the 3-2 victory there last season when the Diavolo raced out to a 3-0 lead and only two late consolations made it looked respectable.
had swept 3-2 in Bergamo, after having even gone 3-0,
The axis of the team includes the centre-back pairing of Fikayo Tomori and Piere Kalulu, midfielder Sandro Tonali and of course Leao, all of whom kicked on and reached a new higher level last season.
Now the demand is different and it is perhaps no surprise that Fabio Capello is the only Milan manager to win two Scudetto in a row (three in the end in 1992, 1993 and 1994). Those new high levels must be partnered with consistency, otherwise a second star will remain a dream.
