AC Milan will be hoping that deploying Rafael Leao as a centre-forward against Manchester United will give them a secret weapon, a report claims.
Milan will fly to Manchester tomorrow afternoon for the game at Old Trafford in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16, and Stefano Pioli will have another injury crisis to deal with as he is without his two natural centre-forwards in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Mandzukic.
That means that Leao will again lead the Milan attack, and while it is true that he is not going through a great moment of form having not scored in official matches since January 9, he has the right characteristics to put United’s defence is in trouble. That is because one of his strengths is his speed, something which can put the home side’s defence under pressure.
Leao’s attitude has come under question as when he is not affecting the game in terms of possession he seems to completely go missing, so the Portuguese forward must be the first to be convinced that he can do well and be a thorn in the side of the United defence who have shown signs of fragility. This is a chance for him to show his strengths and his development on the big stage.
So the secret weapon is to play Leao where he normally would play?