Rafael Leao got his name on the scoresheet for the second time at the World Cup as he scored a stunning goal in Portugal’s 6-1 win over Switzerland.
It took Leao less than three minutes to score in his first appearance at the tournament and he repeated that feat tonight too, cutting onto his favoured right foot and curling a gorgeous shot inside the far post from just inside the left corner of the box.
🔥 It gets better every time you see it
— SempreMilan 🏆 (@SempreMilanCom) December 6, 2022
Rafa has probably the best ratio of goals scored by minutes played in this World Cup. Two short appearances from the bench, two goals! His coach should use him more!
It’s mind-boggling to see Milan fans badmouthing Rafa. He is a phenomenal player. In any other fan base, everybody would be thrilled to have him. Over here, though, he is routinely criticized. I can’t understand it. Racism?
Fully agree, Luigi.
And I think it’s not about racism, at least in most cases. I think it’s STUPIDITY, plain and simple.
He played in all 4 games. 66 minute overall.
But it’s always easier to ignore facts to emphasize one’s own opinion. 😉
Actually I am happy he is not playing full matches, we avoid that way risks of injuries. And the more he’ll play the more he’ll shine, so another good point for us if he’s not on the pitch. Stupidity or racism? I think both.
He’s on the verge of breaking our as Rossoneri family….a guy who needed time just imagine what has happened to his compatriot Nicholas Pepe..he’s on the decline all because Arsenal couldn’t wait but we waited for this guy to rise and he wants to opt out
And always smiling, having fun with his playing. Whether or not he stays with us (and I fervently hope we get his contract renewed), he is an outstanding player, that’s plainly obvious.
There is some hope regarding his renewal with us. Pioli is advising him that he needs more development and if he goes to one of the big teams like Real Madrid or PSG, he’ll be benched (there is no way he will get Vini Jr’s or Mbappé’s spots) while at Milan he gets playing time. He can now see what happened to Kessié who now deeply regrets his decision, and wants to come back to Serie A after warming the bench. It’s a cautionary tale. He reported that during this World Cup he had a talk with Maldini and is optimistic about a renewal. Then he responded to a tweet thanking him for his goals for Milan, saying “more to come.” I think he will stay. It will be good for him and good for Milan. Money is not all; he needs to also consider career development. He has plenty of time in his career to get the money; for now he needs more development and more consistency and it comes with playing time.
I hope you’re right. Leão is obviously a great player, with plenty of potential to be even better and better over the years.
“He is obviously a great player.”
A player plays a few good months, and right away, he is labeled a great player .
I bet Barca thought the same thing when they spent 140 million on dembele because he was labeled a “great player” after a few good months. 5, 6 years later, we are still waiting on that greatness.
Great players don’t sit on the bench sir, they start.
They are not the last sub in a 6-1 beat down.
And it’s not because leao is young. The kid that played over Leao is 2 years younger than him.
Leao is a great talent, but he is nowhere near a great player
It’s unbelivable… a guy like that doesn’t deserve to support a club with a player like Leão in the squad, maybe he would do better to be a fan, I don’t know, of Catanzaro… but anyway.
“Great players don’t sit on the bench sir, they start.”
You’re not really making sense here.
Great players are still human, NOT robots. There are times when they have their bad days and start from bench. I’ve seen Sheva, Pippo, Kaka, Maldini, Weah, etc has their bad days and got bench. Or they start but played badly and got sub.
Leao is not yet a great player because he’s still 23 years old. But he already in the right path of becoming one in the next 2-3 years especially if he keeps improving his skills and team work.
And as per usua,l instead of giving a contra argument to debunk another person’s statements, you disagree with, Leao’s fanboys resort to emotional response. “Oh 😢 you don’t deserve to support a club with a great player like Leao”.
Main component of greatness is CONSISTENCY over a longer period of time.
How can a player who has played on somewhat high level for combined only 5 months be labeled great.
If he so great, why isn’t he starting for his National Team when they don’t really have great forwards.
Cristiano was benched, Jota is injured, Andre Silva is in bad form, and still, Portugal NT coach started some dude named Horta in a meaningless game where only bench players played and started another kid Ramos in a knockout stage game instead of the great Leao.
Leao has played a combined 60 minutes in 4 games. That’s how great his coach thinks he is.
But a Leao fanboy couldn’t wait to come on here tell us how brilliant and great Leao is and call people stupid( including the Portuguese coach) and having mental issues because leao scored a meaningless goal in a game where the other team have given up because they were down 5-1 .
It’s embarrassing and It shows how low most of our fan base have stopped celebrating a bench players meaningless goal
We used to celebrate our players deciding games, being main contributions or at least starting, now we celebrating garbage time goals.
20&8 makes a lot of sense – like it or not. Far easier to start the name-calling or “disapproving their fandom” on people who don’t share one’s opinions, right? 🙂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 calm down
They were up 5-1. He scored a goal in garbage time. The Swiss stopped playing 45 minutes prior to that.
If he is so brilliant, why isn’t he a starter?
Cristiano benched, Jota not there, coach starts a kid over Leao who scores a hattrick+ an assist
Well, It was a tactical option, the coach preferred someone to play more in the middle of the park. And it worked very well, ok. This does not mean that our Rafa is not fantastic.
Honestly, Leao is the best recruitment after Thiago Silva in my opinion, but if he go without any cents, I prefer to sell him. AC Milan more big than one player
I think he deserves a place in that Portugal side , I think the coach could have played 4231 to suit Bruno Fernández better and Leao could have played as the starting LW
20&8 it seems like u don’t truly understand football and I will advise you to learn about it… frankly Leao is not “yet” a great player, but surely he has all the potential to be great and amongst the best in the world in his position, if u can’t see that , then you need to stop watching football and starts watching cricket ( maybe you would understand cricket better)
LOL
These Leao fans are something else.
@Rashad literally agrees with me that Leao is not a great player yet and he is just a great talent for now, which is exactly what i said in the comments above his on this same page but he tells me i don’t understand football and i should watch cricket.
You can’t make this sh*t up.
Amen, 20&8!
20&8 is not a milan fans…obviously. and espicially…a leao’s hater, base on his comments above. “meaningless time goal”….”garbage goal”…etc.
Maybe this creature can do better than leao…😋😋😋😋😋
Rafa and Joao felix are both great players. Mr Santos stated very clearly that JF suits better his playing method .
It’s crazy to see some Milan fans can’t appreciate and discredit young players like Leao, Alexis, Tonali, Kalulu, CDK, Thiaw, Vranckx, etc.
I feel some Milan fans are still stuck in Berlusconi golden era and can’t accept the reality of watching unknown young players plays, grow, and improved with Milan.
There’s a difference in overhyping and appreciating. Of course people appreciate the goals & assists of any Milan players. But we also have the right to demand more from players who don’t give their best/all to the club. And let’s be real, not everyone in Milan is “Milan-worthy”, We care about the team and therefor want better players. It’s not about “hating the players”. It’s just loving the club more and wanting what is best for the club.
Any real fan would understand that.
If Leao puts in Milan half the commitment he has shown in this world cup, nobody will complain about him.
Yes you are right on this one
Don’t worry, he won’t.