AC Milan were beaten 1-0 by Feyenoord away from home in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie, complicating the path to the last 16.
As Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) report this morning, Sergio Conceiçao said that he had prepared the team for the match at De Kuip ‘as if it were a final’, but apparently the Portuguese was unable to instil his desire and determination in the players.
It was those who were most anticipated that let the team down, such as the ‘Fantastic Four’ who were spoken about so much in the build-up to the game. Among these of course is Rafael Leao, who between one ankle problem and another certainly did not offer the performance worthy of his level.
Indeed, the No.10 for the Rossoneri didn’t seem very switched on, as also confirmed by the rather banal error when one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper during the first half. He could have done anything with that chance: a chip, a dribble, or even passed it to Gimenez completely undisturbed.
Instead of doing anything conclusive, he stumbled rather clumsily on the ball and was thwarted by a well-timed challenge, then colliding with the goalkeeper. In many ways it was symbolic of Milan’s evening, never managing to show the necessary ruthlessness.
Leao and his team-mates will still believe that they can qualify given there are 90 minutes still to play, but they have the obligation to do so. They need to show the same aggression that the Feyenoord side did, as the Portuguese admitted, this time taking advantage of an expectant San Siro crowd.
Even Kalinic would have scored from the breakaway. Leao choking in such a place shows (once again) he’s no leader.
No he is only Milan best player!!
That surface and those conditions were conducive to the result, we need to s ore past them to get through and at the san siro, we will hammer them, them at their best us at 25% and they could only manage 1 goal, that was a big misjudgment (caused by the conditions).
Everyone being all melodramatic like the sky has fallen, we should be able to get through this tie, even in our prime we struggled in many away European fixtures, that’s the name for f the game.
I am ok with the defeat, if it had been more then that, it would have been concerning.
What is wrong is attacking Leao, when everyone was below par, Mike was God awful, Walker was getting ripped to bits by a 2nd rate Brazilian winger, the midfield was non existent and Fofana overdoing it and trying to be everywhere at once, Gimminez and Felix could not get going, it was all disjointed, but this happens on away days in Europe.
We will recover this tie in the first 15 minutes at the SanSiro, mark my words and all those criticising Leao, will be salivating at the way he is ripping Fyernord to shreds next Tuesday!!
“No he is only Milan best player!!”
I wasn’t talking about Pulisic. 🙂
“We will recover this tie in the first 15 minutes at the SanSiro, mark my words and all those criticising Leao, will be salivating at the way he is ripping Fyernord to shreds next Tuesday!!”
Far more likely scenario is people foaming from their mouths due to the Portuguese walking around the pitch lifting his arms to teammates as their passes weren’t perfect enough for his highness. Prove me wrong. 🙂
The beauty of football and the way it arouses and tribalism and passion
Before the goal and before the Reijnders chance, Leao had space outside the box with an easy pass onto either Santi or Pulisic for a great chance, but he chose to, well I don’t know what he chose to do, but it wasn’t a pass to create a goalsoring opportunity for another player. I think he tried running through a player without the ball…
We need to ship this brainless footballer in the summer. He doesn’t care enough to do anything about anything. He is holding Milan back..
His footwork skill is one of the best in europe, but his intellegence and mentality are below average, he always clueless when its time to choose between passing or take a shot and looks like all his energy is use only for his feet but his brain didnt get it even small portion.
“His footwork skill is one of the best in europe”
Paixao made Leao look like Emerson in that regard though…
Wearing a pink shocks really a badluck