Rafael Leao has shown his support for Davide Calabria with a post on his social media after the AC Milan captain had a less than ideal night against Torino on Saturday.
Calabria was substituted off during the 82nd minute of Milan’s first game of the season against Torino at San Siro, with Noah Okafor coming on to take his place, the man who would go on to score the equaliser 13 minutes later.
However, it wasn’t just a normal change as the academy graduate left the field amidst jeers from the Milan fans present, as they were not happy with the performance and the fact crosses for both Torino goals came from his side.
Leao showed support for Calabria on his Instagram story, posting a picture of the full-back with the caption: “Together my captain.” It is a nice gesture from the winger, who has also come under fire for missing opportunities in the draw.
📱 @RafaeLeao7 on Instagram: "Together my captain." ❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/PON5bbzZgV
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) August 19, 2024
He doesn’t deserve all this hate but Milan needs a better RB to move forward, Romagnoli was our captain too and he was benched when Milan won the title.
He doesn’t deserve all the hate but….
Like seriously, you’re very much part of the problem and part of the reason Milan haven’t had a settled squad in 20 years.
To the bench Captain.
That ain’t going to make him play better… we need to be objective and sell him.
Calabria’s obviously not Milan quality but we should keep him (on reduced wages) to start against PSG and Napoli.
He is quite a different player against Napoli
Ah the mythical ‘Milan quality’ which seems to be to be a player who has come from a mid table team in a foreign league who has never won anything but has a high ‘ceiling’.
The Calabria hate is dumb. A vast majority of goals scored on us don’t come from him. Thiaw, tomori and Hernandez are all terrible at defending. They are only good at recovery defending where you run side by side to the opponent. Then the midfield provides zero support and the wingers have no clue what defense actually is. Only saelsmakers comes back and helps.
There are zero wing backs that can defend alone. Those days are gone, so stop expecting Calabria to be at those lvls when not a single defender now is at the lvl of the early 2000’s
I like Calabria because he’s been with us all his career but there’s no mistaking Calabria isn’t good enough to start. I thought last year that pioli’s tactics of inverting him always made him out of position but he’s just not good enough. Constantly beat and out of position. But I would definitely keep him as a sub and tbd if Emerson is better than him or not
Sorry ‘no mistaking’?
He’s a Scudetto winning FB.
If you want to find a FB who is capable of winning a Scudetto well we have one.
Problem solved.
F*** that Scudetto. Jeeez. It has been 3 years already. Stop living with the PAST. He is a sh*t NOW. That is all it matters. You are embarrassing yourself with your Calabria fetish. Bro, cmon
It’s not LIVING IN THE PAST if we’re talking about a player who is PLAYING IN THE PRESENT.
Living in the past is ‘Calabria has nothin’ on Maldini’.
Living in the past is precisely why players like Calabria are undervalued and why the club has never been able build a long term project.
Yes Rafa, you both didn’t have great games together against Torino.
Do better against Parma so we can cheer you both on.
They are both uselessss
When NT coach like Conte,Mancini and Spaletti never call this guys, is not coincindence. They knew calabria is average players
That would make like so many other Milan greats who never got called to the Italy team.
And look at what Italy NT did at this year Euro Cup. They got washed by a fricking Switzerland!
There are no awards for showing up if you’re not performing.
I get it that we all love Calabria because he is a lifelong Milanista, he came through the ranks, is Italian, and is the longest-serving Milan player. I love him too for these very characteristics.
But unfortunately, despite my love for him for all the above reasons, if I coldly look at how good (or not) he is as a footballer and even as a captain, trying to analyze it logically rather than emotionally, I must acknowledge that he is lacking in both departments.
Calabria is capable of great games and even of containing some world-class wingers at times (he’s done it to Mbappé and Kvara), but let’s admit to it, these top performances are way more the exception than the rule. More often, Calabria gets beat by his man, and leaves huge spaces behind when he tries to support the offense. Rarely he is efficient in his offensive support, either. Sometimes he is and produces assists, but again, that’s the exception rather than the rule. Calabria is often below the average level of a Milan player, in terms of player ratings for everybody. He clearly has a ceiling and at his age, he won’t improve.
Is he our worst player? Not at all. That dubious “honor” currently belongs to Malick Thiaw (and Ballo and Origi, but these I don’t even count). But is he one of our best players? No, he definitely isn’t (Florenzi by the way is a much better right back than Calabria; too bad he got so severely injured). Is Emerson Royal better than Calabria? I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know Emerson at all. I hear that he isn’t a great defender so that doesn’t bode well, because we need solid defense more than we need good offense, currently.
As a captain, I also think that Calabria isn’t the greatest. I rarely see him being able, for example, to calm Theo down and prevent Theo from being carded for dissent. I rarely see him being able to address the ref and make the ref a little more favorable to Milan, when the ref is putting together a performance that is detrimental to the team.
I actually think that Pulisic would be a much better captain than Calabria. Puli is used to this role for the United States Men’s National Team, and he does it very well. However Puli can’t be the Milan captain yet, for a simple reason: he doesn’t command the Italian language sufficiently, to talk to the Italian refs. He also doesn’t have a lot of seniority in the locker room, given that he’s been with Milan for only a little more than one year. I would expect though, that as soon as Puli learns sufficient Italian and has more Milan service time, he would be promoted to being our captain. He is calm, refs and even opponents respect him, and he is able to talk to his teammates and to refs in an efficient manner. As someone who follows closely the USMNT, I’ve seen Puli being a great captain, numerous times.
I thank Calabria for what he’s done over the years, but I also know that Milan deserves a better right back and a better captain. I love Calabria but I am more loyal to Milan than to any individual player. We do have a world class player for the left back position, in Theo Hernandez. I think we deserve to also have a world class player for the right back position, but Calabria certainly isn’t one. We have a world class captain in Pulisic. We deserve a great captain (as soon as Puli learns better Italian and gets a little more Milan time under his belt) and Calabria isn’t one.
The above is the sad reality. Some will disagree because they will allow the emotional part to talk louder than the logical part. But if we are to really think logically, Calabria is neither a great right back, nor a great captain, unfortunately.
World class captain in Pulisic? The very same guy telling the Copa America referees to celebrate the win with the other team?
For the rest, its not the sad reality, it’s your own opinion and analysis. Interesting though but a bit condescending ending with the those who don’t think like me are wrong/emotional part.
Man, did you see what the Copa America refs were doing? At one point, even a cool-headed and nice guy like Pulisic loses patience.
As for being condescending, sorry; what I was saying are just facts. If stating hard facts and lamenting that some people don’t see them is condescending, then, I’m guilty as charged, but I stand behind what I said.
I like Pulisic but he is a quiet guy. That outburst at Copa was more frustration than being a good leader, wasn’t positive or negative. The national team is full of nepotism and Pulisic is part of that leadership council. Bennacer would be a good captain but his place in the team is being questioned so at this point just leave it to Calabria, Theo or Mike.
Sorry there’s no cold looking at anything.
It’s a recorded historic fact that requires zero speculation that Calabria is a Scudetto winning RB.
All of these other random players that everyone is imagining is better have proven nothing.
And all of these random players that people without any basis just assume will be better because, I don’t know, of their FIFA stats or what they achieved for a mid table team or because of novelty, require a good cold analysis that tells us precisely nothing.
The reason Milan have 2 Scudetti in 20 years is because we haven’t had a settled squad – no settled defence, no settled midfield, no settled striker.
Instead we’ve faffed about constantly changing players in the search of some elusive god like individuals that don’t exist.
I said Florenzi is better than Calabria: it’s an observable fact. I said I don’t know if Emerson is or is not better than Calabria. We’ll see.
FIFA stats? I have never played this video game and I find video games in general to be a colossal waste of time. When you suspect me of reacting to FIFA videogame stats, you’re targeting the wrong generation. I’m not a teenager.
You always complain when we sign players. I think your ideal Milan would have the same players for ever, until they are 90 years old and play over wheelchairs. Get a grip! Things change.
There are no ‘observable facts’. That is your opinion.
An opinion that sits contrary to the FACT that Calabria has been our first choice RB ahead of Florenzi including in the Scudetto winning season.
I gave a range of possibilities for your pure unadulterated speculation as to other random player’s abilities. Maybe you just rate players from other mid table clubs more highly. I don’t know it’s all rampant speculation.
All I ask is that Milan are run like actual winning clubs like Real, Barca, Bayern and Juve that are all built around a core of domestic players and focused transfers.
In the time Benzema played for Real Milan went through over 20 strikers. It’s embarrassing. Where’s your pride.
Lmao Pulisic a world class captain?
Yep, he is. You can Lyao all that you want, but he is. He is the captain of a national team (which during his tenure was ranked as high as 11th in the world) and has played as such in the FIFA World Cup and the CONMEBOL Copa America. It doesn’t get any more world class than that.
Tell us about that time you were in the locker room and witnessed Pulisic’s captaining skills…
Oh are you just making more observations from your armchair?
No he’s not.
Luigi, no offense but you should stick with your plumber job along with your brother Mario. Don’t talk about soccer as if you’re an expert. Period.
He need play better and fight like captain doing,so i think he is for bench. New captain is Maignan and Leao need sell too,he is actor which not fight with all strenght for shirt.
I not understand some playere why they not give everything at game,why they play only good at CL? They not respect supporters at all so put Okafor play and move Leao and Calabria on bench,you will see how they will be better. For this we need couch with autority but Fonseca cant put them at bench