Rafael Leao has hit back at Antonio Cassano for the latest instalment of criticism that the Portuguese forward has received.
Former Milan forward Cassano has seemingly made a brand out of wildly criticising modern footballers and coaches and Leao is one of his regular targets.
The Italian was a guest on La Domenica Sportiva on Rai 2 (via Radio Rossonera) and he discussed various issues surrounding the Rossoneri.
Cassano’s issue with Leao this time seemed to be that the winger ‘thinks he is a phenomenon’ despite having a poor season on the whole in front of goal.
The rants from Cassano often lack some coherence but he compared Leao’s goal tally to players like Marcus Rashford, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Phil Foden over the past season or two.
“If I go and see a winger last year, [Marcus] Rashford scores 26 goals and had a great season, he does the two phases, [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia comes in and does a wonderful season doing the two phases, [Phil] Foden is a year younger and this year he has already scored 20 goals and 10 assists,” Cassano said.
“In Italy the league is not good. The problem is that he thinks he is a phenomenon, he is a good player who has great physical strength, finished. People like Kaka, Rui Costa, Vinicius Jr today how much should they get…he’s scored eight goals in five and a half months in a poor league.”
Leao chose to respond to Cassano on this occasion, but not with words. He merely quote tweeted a video of Cassano’s thoughts and added a series of clown emojis, making his feelings clear.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 https://t.co/wemss1mFXq
— Rafael Leão (@RafaeLeao7) April 8, 2024
Cassano also went on to suggest that Leao is not as committed to fighting for the team as a player like Lautaro Martinez at Inter.
Leao has two goals and an assist in Milan’s last two Serie A matches with his form starting to return to previous levels.
Well Casano has always been a clown regardless of what he nowadays utters in the media and quite frankly he should show some more dignity as he completely mismanaged his own career that could have been so much better than what he actually accomplished.
When that is said leao isnt having a bad season as i percieve it even if there has been some ups and downs its overall been a good one and there is still time to make it even better.
I can understand though that the bar for the expectations for leao might be higher than for others as he simply is such a sublime and strong athlete and therefore its natural to set the expectaions very high.
Cassano though is a putz and i doubt that will ever change.
If Gullit or Ronaldinho or Kaka were giving their opinion (including criticism) I would give them due respect.
Cassano was a clown as a player and is still a clown, who obviously needs this kind of nonsense to make a few euro (no doubt he has squandered what he earned).
What’s more I would actively tell young players to research Cassano, so they may learn the pitfalls of being an absolute TW^T
Absolutely.
Yeah i never really liked him either, even when he played for us i pretty much just tolerated him and you probably are right in that estimate that he is strapped for cash.
Yeah young talented players should take notice of his and balotellis careers in what not to do. In balotellis case though he at least seems like a nice fella with the heart in the right place.
One of the better cassano moments
I’m sure Ibra would have a number of things to say about Cassano. I won’t be surprised if he puts in a few words because Leao was his teammate until retirement.
He might, it would be quite funny.
I remember him on the pitch for Milan. Lol I’m old enough lol. I also remember his rotten attitude, consistently poor physique, and inability to run without being entirely winded. Bringing Cassano to Milan was a mistake.
We are lucky there wasn’t more extensive drug testing in those days. Cassano would have failed.
I remember he was subbed on, won a penalty, scored it and got sent off all within about 5mins! 😂
The quintessential Cassano moment. A display of the raw natural talent he possessed, immediately followed immediately by an example of the constant antics that prevented him from realizing his potential. A true clown and cautionary tale, for certain.
Why isn’t he talking about this years rashford and kvara vs leao?
Cherry picking pr*ck
Indeed, he is comparing Kvara and Rashford of 2022/23 to Leao this season.
First of all, Leao had the same G+A in 2022/23 as Kvara (16+15 vs 14+17), and this season he is comfortably ahead of them.
I think there is a lot for Leao to do in order to improve, I feel like he could be much better than he already is, but Cassano seems to have a beef with Leao.
Cassano is trying to bring his confidence down before the derby. He said himself that he’s piece of sh…I mean Interista.
I think he’s the last person in the World who need to talk about consistency.
Leao indeed is not having the same numbers but it’s also because we don’t depend in n him like in the past since there is Pulisic on the right. But he’s a superstar and important for us
In the other hand, we need people like cassano to brings out the best leao. He needs that insult to bring out the tiger out of that boy. Hes a very very nice boy. Thats why the only problem for him is to bring out that killer instinct ti made the boy became a man. Cause afterall its not a surfing game. Its the most famous sport in the earth where all the talents in the world would kills to succed.
What a fking clown. I never like this clown even he was one of the 2010/11 scudetto squad.
Lol. Cassano couldn’t play a single game properly if there was no Ibra kicking sh*t out of him.
Leao’s comments works both ways as Cassano also wears too much makeup 😂😂😂
Cassano is the guy that bites other people on field. Sleep with woman night before game was his ritual.
His comment is always offensive and funny. thats why people like to interview him, and no one will take him seriously.
So nothing to see here, just continue to surf Leao
This is the only way for a has-been to stay in the conversation these days… Does anyone ever take what he says seriously?
I’m surprised Leao even responds to these…
Leao would have walked into any team 15 years ago. He is also better than Rui Costa.
Cassano… or is it Cassandra? I remember him on the pitch. One dimensional mediocrity and out of shape constantly. Dude couldn’t run a half mile without being completely winded.
Leao isn’t better than Rui Costa, calm down. Rui Costa was one of the best players in the best league in the world. This serie A where Leao is one of the best is trash.
Cassano game was not based on his physical ability, but on technique and high football IQ. You can say whatever you want about him as a person but he was one of the most talented Italian players ever.
You say he was never in shape but yet he was posting Leao kind of numbers even out of shape, in a better league. If he was in shape, as Leao, it would mean that he would have better production than Leao.
Cassano was a great talent who never fulfilled his enormous potential because of bad attitude and poor professionalism, just like Balloteli, but both of them are ahead of Leao on their best day, focused and professional.
Yeah.. no superstar ever made an album. Not even casano balo level. Only shaq after his days are over and our very nice boy leao did. Smh
You do realize Shaq had a rap album in his playing days….. so too Allen Iverson. Jordan, Barkley, bron and others had a movie . It’s ok to venture out, as long as the performances are there I don’t mind at all
Fat Cassano speaks. LOL.
it’s not just cassano or in serie a only.
i feel like in every league there’s always this one ex player who tries to stay relevant and of course gaining attention and gain some money at that, by being a clown, a controversial figure with their ridiculous statements