AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has suggested that Rafael Leao could play tomorrow against Inter but a decision has not yet been made.
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There was real panic when Portuguese winger suffered some discomfort in the adductor muscle of his right thigh during the win over Lazio on Saturday and it was said at the time that his condition will be monitored day by day.
When the players came out for their training session on the eve of the game earlier today Leao did not train with the rest of the squad but rather took part in some running individually on a separate part of the field.
Interviewed by Sky, Pioli spoke about a number of topics in view of tomorrow’s first leg and the fitness of Leao was one of them, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“I too looked for the word elongation on the internet when I received the message about his injury… Field work was scheduled for today, tomorrow morning he’ll try to push and if he’s ok there he will be present, otherwise he won’t,” Pioli said.
“He could start or he won’t even be on the bench. We clearly can’t take risks with him. Tomorrow it will depend on the type of work he will do, for the quality and characteristics of the player he must be at 100%. Let’s see, it’s still open.”
Moving onto the game more generally, Pioli stated that he feels the best way to approach it is to try and relish the occasion rather than getting bogged down by the pressure.
“I hope I have managed to convey to the players the happiness and enthusiasm of preparing for these matches. The path in the Champions League is exceptional, but we know where we come from and where we want to get there. If we prepare things in the best way, we must have this serenity that will help us to give everything we have.
“The coach’s work goes a lot into the mental energies to be transmitted to the team. Let’s talk about the Champions League, we talked about the challenges we overcame from the round of 16 to get here. We talked about the experience with Tottenham and Napoli, to understand where we are were good at holding up these opponents.
“It takes great teamwork. [In the big Champions League matches] We were a team from start to finish, we fought, suffered all together. To get an exceptional result, you need an exceptional performance.”
