When Rafael Leao scored the equalising goal against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, it was pointed at that he chose to celebrate by raising a finger to his lips.
MilanNews reports that no official responses have arrived – and most likely will not arrive – either from Milan or from Leao regarding his gesture after the goal, but they instead offer an interpretation of what it meant.
Of course, the fans were not the intended recipient of the ‘Shush’ message. There has always been a great feeling between Leao and the San Siro crowd, the Curva Sud first and foremost, because the Portuguese is the one who justifies the price of the ticket with his play regardless of the result;.
The boos on Saturday night, as confirmed several times by Pioli, were legitimate and they were for the team in general. There is no ill-feeling towards the fans from the Portuguese winger, so that is not the explanation.
The most accepted version, therefore, remains one whereby Leao chose that celebration to silence the criticism that has rained down on him and the team in recent weeks from pundits and the media.
Of course the answer must not be given in words, but on the pitch, and the overhead kick goal against PSG, topped off with a monstrous personal and collective performance, is the best possible response.
Leao’s celebration could have a different meaning, a slightly more important one. It was not done to silence anyone, but to silence something. And that something is the dark period in which Milan had stumbled in the last month, with zero victories and three big defeats.
Ergo, the former Lille man is instead saying ‘enough’ to negativity, a stop to the collective sadness which lingered over the team, sparking a change in attitude and hopefully a fresh start.
“The most accepted version” ha ha 😂. The most accepted version for who?, people feelings?
The man turned intentionally towards the Curva Sud with his finger over his mouth, and then he didn’t even celebrate the goal after he put his finger down.
Players that wanna respond to criticism from media, pundits or ex players or coaches criticism usually do the shushing gesture towards a camera not towards his own fans.
And Leao shouldn’t be shushing anyone after just 1 good game. Play like that for 5,6 weeks, several months, earned the right to shush people by providing them wrong. One good game didn’t and won’t shush anyone
Yeah but when he doesn’t play good nobody is standing up!!!!! The only player who’s thinking about attacking! Pulisic doesnt even dribble past a defender. Instead of having trust in leao you people only complaining!
100%. So let’s see how he does against Lecce. For me it’s 50/50 whether we’ll see more of PSG Leao or pre-PSG Leao. And if we see the latter, how should the Curva react? We shall see.
He is right to shush the media and all his critics, he definitely wouldn’t do that to the Curva sud. Leao is more criticized than any other player in the world, and in my opinion he has not been that bad in the past 4weeks, guess his team mate need to take the chances created by Leao even on his bad day
If there are part of Curva Sud who criticize him, that part is included as target of the shush.
Considering he is by far the best paid player at the club and hadn’t scored for 7 matches in combination with the fact that his work ethics more often than not is questionable he should be a lot more self-critical than he showcase by such gesture. 1 great game doesn’t change that and if he believes that then his naivety is his biggest enemy to reach his true potential.
To be fair it’s hard for the players to be self critical in today’s world because of social media worshipping they receive.
On Twitter there is an account called @Best of Rafael Leao who called Leao MISTER UCL yesterday. Leao scored his 1st UCL goal this season, after scoring only 1 last season and after scoring only 1 in 21/22. I guess scoring 3 goals total in 3 UCL campaigns makes you “MISTER UCL”.
Well regardless of followers and people praising them, famous people are not any different than us besides that they have specialized themselves in various areas of jobs and is paid a great deal of cash so if they believe differently then they are deluded by their inflated egos. Its not like football really matters its just entertainment that we have put up on a pedestal and given it value. In leaos case he is an adult and should know when he doesnt work hard enough he becomes a liability for his team mates who then has to work harder instead and thereby also the club that pays his salary.
Before people gets angry for me posting such comment i do appreciate the player and hope he stays for years to come but his work ethics should greatly improve as we should be able to expect performances like that on Tuesday on a consistent basis.
He was shushing anyone who is offended by the shush and all those who will scrutinize the shush (journalists first)
Rightfully so……to add more if Leao’s team mate has been converting most of the chances he created we would have less to worry about
People complain about everything, and they always know better, they even know how leao should celebrate and how he shouldnt, nobody owes anyone anything, let the kid be
I agree with you bro. Leao is not the only player to score or going goal bound. If only other chances are converted by other team mates, we wont be analyzing him alone
Including some of us here.
True, too much negativity, even after an excellent midweek they still continue to be negative
Lol nice try guys 😂
Also, that’s only one game