Rafael Leao should return to the starting line-up after beginning two consecutive games on the bench, and AC Milan are in need of his contributions to help reverse their negative form.
As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes this morning, Leao is ready to return to the field from the first minute. Although his condition hasn’t been the best since he came back from the World Cup, it would be foolish to deny that the Portuguese winger’s dribbles and goal threat were lacking in the last two defeats.
In Stefano Pioli’s press conference which took place yesterday, the Milan boss spoke of his total trust in the former Lille man despite his decision not to start him for the last two games.
“He came back from the World Cup, he had to play very well right away in Salerno to then lose a bit of brilliance. He’s fine, he’s much happier when he plays; I see him very motivated and very focused,” he said.
It isn’t just Pioli who has had words of encouragement for Leao lately as Zlatan Ibrahimovic – interviewed by SportMediaset a few days ago – also spoke about his attacking partner.
“He had a fantastic year, he won the award for best player in the league. Then the contract, other clubs looking for you, the World Cup and all the rest. But he has to stay focused and only think about playing football. Everything else is resolved, he just has to think about playing,” he said.
The paper adds that even in this week’s training sessions Leao ‘raised his engine revs’ and hopes to replicate what happened last year when he became even more dangerous and effective in the important point of the season.
Leao will also hope to prove a point specifically against Torino too. In October in the first league meeting, Rafa missed two chances in the opening minutes and Pioli already replaced him at half-time with the Rossoneri down by two goals.
It didn’t go any better about a month ago when Ivan Juric’s team came to San Siro for the Coppa Italia game, as Leao started from the bench and when he came on (with Milan a man up) he was unable to score and the Rossoneri were eliminated in extra time.
