Stefano Pioli’s decision not to start Rafael Leao against either Sassuolo or Inter raised some eyebrows, but now he is set to put him back in the line-up for tomorrow’s game against Torino.
According to MilanNews, Leao is ready to take back his starting position tomorrow against Torino even though Pioli is expected to stick with the three-man defence, because he is also planning to change to configuration of the attacking department.
Leao is the only one who has raised his level on a statistical level compared to last season as his average has gone from goal every 238 minutes to one every 179 and the same goes for assists, with an average of 0.23 per game against 0.21 last year.
His growth was also spoken about by Zlatan Ibrahimovic during an interview with SportMediaset yesterday, given the Swede has often been a mentor to the young forward.
“He has become stronger than a year ago, only this year everyone knows who Leao is, last year instead they were less focused on him. Now, however, they know that he is the strongest of all and they are more careful of him,” he said.
“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 everything the rest. But he must stay focused and think only of playing football. Everything else can be resolved, he must only think about playing.”
Leao must take to the field tomorrow night and shut out all of the external noise to get back to playing with a smile on his face, as Ibrahimovic and Pioli want, as well as the Milan fans too.
