Rafael Leao scored the first goal in Portugal’s 5-1 win last night and after the game, having played really well, he was asked about the header. Indeed, it’s not every day that the winger scores with the head.
After a tough start to the season, Leao has undoubtedly turned things around in the last few weeks with the performances against Real Madrid, Cagliari and Poland. In other words, he has three goals and one assist in his last three appearances.
Yesterday, he found the back of the net in Portugal’s 5-1 win against Poland and it was an important goal, opening the floodgates for his team. Speaking to RTP afterwards, as cited by MilanNews, the Milan winger shared his thoughts on the goal and performance.
“Bruno Fernandes recovered the ball, passed it to me, I looked up and saw that there was space. Then I saw Nuno Mendes on the left and I know he is quicker than the others, so I went into the penalty box, he found me and my eyes closed,” he stated.
According to data from Transfermarkt, Leao has only scored three headers in his professional career (only visiting club appearances), two of which were scored for Milan. Interestingly, both of these were against Lecce in the 19/20 and 22/23 seasons respectively.
3 last games he is visibly improved, especially last night when he actually run into the box to receive crosses.
He need to do that more often at Milan, too often he stayed outside the box when we attacked from our right side.