The DAZN ‘BordoCam’ footage has revealed what Rafael Leao said in his rant about Christian Pulisic’s failure to pass to him.
As the broadcaster has revealed in their video showing behind-the-scenes details from Lazio’s win over Milan, Leao’s temper reached boiling point in the second half. To set the stage, the footage shows Pulisic failing to pass to try find Leao’s run through on goal on two occasions.
After the second pass didn’t arrive, the Portuguese player became furious, first telling his teammate where to go in unflattering terms, then telling him: “Damn, bro. Go inside, bro.” He means to release the pass inside the full-back, to release him on goal.
Allegri also got angry on the bench, screaming: “Give it to him!” He then watched it back with his staff in the dugout, and remarked to one of them: “With this one, he puts him in on goal, oh, that’s already two! Two already!”
‘He has to pass the ball!’
Then came the moment Leao was taken off, which he did not respond well to. After slowly making his way towards the touchline – with Milan a goal behind at this point – Mike Maignan ran over both to try hurry him up and calf him down.
Leao said to Allegri: “He has to pass the ball, mister!” The response from the coach: “You’re right! Stay calm!” Then, the forward shoved Allegri twice as he tried to hug him before heading to the bench, kicking everything in sight and throwing away his shinpads, before sitting and shaking his head.
Leao, talking to himself, had some more tough words for Pulisic: “He always plays alone and no one says anything, my goodness… Always the same thing.” Thankfully, peace has now prevailed after an apology and a handshake at Milanello.
His right thon , several milan games he always goes for the glory decision making is wrong should be a team effort not personal goal , that’s the difference between us and inter
Since when has Pulisic been a glory player? Rafa has had these same claims given to him so it’s crazy he’s complaining about something he does. What do we call this? Projection. Love both players but Rafa should look in the mirror before he speaks such things.
“Goes for glory” is a figure of speech. It means he tries to score instead of making another choice.
Absolutely. The problem in this system is much bigger with Pulisic than Leao. If you play a 3-5-2 low bloc defense, you need vertical passes. Pulisic’s main point of weakness is his inability to look up with the ball between his feet.
I don’t think he’s a selfish player at all, I just think he is genuinely incapable of seeing his teammates when he has the ball.
Brahim Diaz used to have that problem, but he improved a lot. A LOT. Pulisic on the other hand has had this problem since Dortmund.
Leao’s childish reaction says everything about him. He’s passionate about winning but not a good teammate. You don’t throw a teammate under the bus in public. You take it up with your teammate or coaches away from the lights and cameras – in the locker room, at practice, in the film room.
Every player misses or fails to pass or keep a shot on frame at some point. If every missed pass or shot generated public outrage by a teammate that required an apology, teams would be in constant therapy. Leao is a brilliant talent and has contributed to Milan’s success; in most college and some pro teams, management would be already shopping him. Hopefully tempers have cooled enough to get through the last weeks of the season.
The offseason will be challenging for Milan on what to do with Rafa.
This is what you got wrong. when you said “Every player misses or fails to pass or keep a shot on frame at some point”.
This is not an “at some point” situation. This is game-in game-out for months now kind of situation.
Pulisic CANNOT raise his head to spot his teammate. And that is frustrating as hell.
you go tell this to ibra.. ibra always complained to his teammates when they’re not pass him the ball and in public too.. leao has the right to complain with those 80-90% goal chances.. the same situation when pavlo didn’t pass him the ball.. and of course it will frustrate leao..
This coming from the guy that trys to beat a 2v1, loses the ball and then jogs back.
This is honestly the most karma thing that could happen.
If Leoa passes the ball back, he’d probably get the ball more.
This is the nail in the coffin for Pulisic staying at ACM. He needs to leave. interesting that SempreLeao pushes the story after the handshake. I don’t think we see Pulisic again on the field in ACM uniform.
” I don’t think we see Pulisic again on the field in ACM uniform.”
😀 😀 😀 😀
Wanna bet? I’ll bid our house on this.
I hate this. This is not going away with a handshake. Also for clarification according to Fotmob
Player A 1200 minutes played 428 successful passes, 31 chances created 7 big chances created
Player B 1500 minutes played 381 successful passes, 16 chances created, 7 big chances created
Which of these players is better at sharing the ball? Anyone want to show Laeo these stats?
If i were the management, i will sell puli now and gamble again with leao. Unless we got huge offer for leao then they can sell him. Buy another inteligent mf passer like kroos and made him be friend with leao. Thats the only way to pemper him since they already has made the decision fot that. Made him our maradona. Give him whatever he like eventhough he didnt show up in training. Maybe he will be balon dor and we win the champions league. Whatever it takes. If its not happening in 2 yrs sell him when hes 28 he will still have alot of value. Just make a decision, you dont half gamble it. Leao frustate n the teammates too. Leao is a star who u cant tell what to do. Hell never be 100 pct if he didnt get what he want
Why would you sell the player who works for the team and not for himself when you get the same goal contribution from both? Same amount of goals & assists but with a helluva difference in (esp. defensive) work rate.
From an article translated by Google Translate:
“The team’s stats confirm a reality that’s now fairly clear: with Leao on the pitch, Milan becomes a more open, more unbalanced team, more difficult to control for better or worse.
The Rossoneri produce fewer xG (1.70 when he plays, 2.16 when he’s not) without managing to compensate in defense, where the xGA (1.32 when he’s on the pitch, 0.45 when he’s not) and shots conceded figures have increased significantly. “
Time to go, Christian. LAFC or one of those teams would be more his level.
ManUtd.
They already have Diallo playing in the headless chicken role.
You realize he’s a defender.
You realise headless chicken is not a real position in football?
But it is for certain posters.
The nerve of this guy to complain about this. He misses obvious passes in every game either to play it safely or worse, attempt some ridiculous shot that goes 15 meters away from the target. Now that he became victim of this for once, he makes it national news so that Pulisic can be the bad guy.
Where were all you haters when Pulisic was scoring and can do no wrong? Pulisic problem right now is his timing is off, hence out of form. Due to the time he was out due to injury. Give hime a bit a time, he’ll be back to his own self. Just a few weeks ago, top premiere league teams were asking about him. CHILL man!
This is elevate Rafa day on this site. First this story then the story trying to tell us he’s a better #9 than Giroud who has won the CL, Club World Cup, World Cup and Scudetto. Just rename the site SempreLeao. I also believe that Giroud was a better leader and force in the locker room.
There’s been plenty of times pulisic hasn’t played him in. There’s also plenty of times the ball bounced off Leao, got stuck under his feet of he tried to dink in a cross with no prospect of a Milan player getting there. I can see his frustration though
Ever footballer would be frustrated then. The commenters commented in the game how Pulisic was open and asking for the ball and making runs but didn’t get it. Rafa will get what he wants which is Pulisic to leave.
Thanks for been truthful, it’s common from Pulisic, Rafa plays for the team, Pulisic plays for self, want to be hero, doesn’t want to be outshine by Leao who is far more skillful and valuable
lol you do crack me up!
I think you meant “you do crack”. Pulisic not playing for the team is the most stupid comment I’ve heard on this site. But then again consider the source
He’s just funny. Any chance he gets to praise Leao and bash Pulisic he takes it.
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
On avg. per match, compared to Giroud in his most prolific Serie A campaign at Milan (23/24, 15G), in 25/26 Leão (9G) has more touches in opp. box (4.5 vs 3.7), layoffs (2.2 vs 1.3), and recoveries (1.4 vs 0.9) – same data for shots (2.2) and goals (0.4).
And i bet you and many of Leao defenders were criticizing Giroud and wanted him out of the club for posting those stats but now you wanna use those stats to show that Leao isn’t that bad?
Next season, Leao bad stats would be compared to Jovic best season at Milan to showcase that Leao isn’t that bad.
This is sad.
Lol lame cope. That’s a bet you’d lose easily. No one is defending anyone, those are statistics of a player playing out of his natural position. So you can cry as much as you like but those numbers won’t magically change or disappear.
Giroud’s last year at ACM- 15 goals 8 assists. I bet he had way more headers for goals then Leão which is what ACM need now. ACM finished second that year. I’m not aware of any stat that measures physicality in the box, but he had it. So, how about those numbers.
I looked it up- 6 headers for goals. Boy, could ACM use those goals when the box is packed.
The Leao Paradox: He’s the top scorer, but Milan scores more when he doesn’t play
Rafa has 9 league goals but, in the matches where he’s on the field, Milan averages 1.32 goals per game. When he’s unavailable, the average rises to 2.14 goals. Dilemma for Allegri: stick with him?
And more stats here.
From an article translated by Google Translate:
“The team’s stats confirm a reality that’s now fairly clear: with Leao on the pitch, Milan becomes a more open, more unbalanced team, more difficult to control for better or worse.
The Rossoneri produce fewer xG (1.70 when he plays, 2.16 when he’s not) without managing to compensate in defense, where the xGA (1.32 when he’s on the pitch, 0.45 when he’s not) and shots conceded figures have increased significantly. “
I can understand his frustration in this game. But as others have noted there are plenty of times that Leao does not pass to his team mates in better positions.
Can’t recall the exact games but in the early part of the season when there was several games with Leao and Nkunku. I noted the same situation with Nkunku make good runs and being ignored while Leao tried to do everything on his own.
Yep. But it (the blame-game) only applies to Pulisic though. Don’t ask me why.
Again, Pulisic or any other players can s.uck a.ss here and there for all I care, this happens to everybody. Leao has not been perfect anyway. The problem with him is his attitude. Stop spitting out his stats and other peoples’ shortcomings. Leao’s attitude should be standing up straight on its own no matter what. He can’t let it bend and simply say “oh he made me flip out.” Come on people.
Are you still going on about his attitude being more important than his numbers? 😂 Dude it’s not.
If you want a competition where the winner is based on how happy they look, there’s this thing called Miss World…
You want numbers? OK. Here’s a few:
From an article translated by Google Translate:
“The team’s stats confirm a reality that’s now fairly clear: with Leao on the pitch, Milan becomes a more open, more unbalanced team, more difficult to control for better or worse.
The Rossoneri produce fewer xG (1.70 when he plays, 2.16 when he’s not) without managing to compensate in defense, where the xGA (1.32 when he’s on the pitch, 0.45 when he’s not) and shots conceded figures have increased significantly. “
Stats can be interpreted any which way when out of context. Leao and Giroud’s stats are close right, so ask anyone on this board, I’d bet the majority would take Giroud over Leao. The things Giroud did for this team in-between those stats and the way he earned those numbers in the stats speaks volumes. Let’s not forget he put his body on the line as goal keeper as well. There’s this weird attempt to justify Leao still being on this team. He’s a good player but it’s time to cash in. We lost Tonali, Tij, good players for the cash. Leao is no dif from them. These things happen, Neymar left Barca, Salah moved around a few times before exploding. Very good players move on all the time. Leao is not Kaka or Maldini, let’s be real. Idk what will happen with Pulisic but it seems like he’s more useful for any system Allegri wants so he’d be more likely to retain Pulisic. Both could leave and our success really depends on if Tare will fill the gaps or Furlani.
The management is not that dumb, they need Leao for the success, he can single-handedly delivers this team and they know it, except if Leao decides to go, he will remain in Milan, everyone sold are important to the team but not as valuable as Leao, if the management sells Leao, the team will be mid table team, back to banter era, they management don’t want to risk any issue with the fans or Ultras. You haters should suck it in LEAO is pivotal and vital to this management than any other player.
“The management is not that dumb, they need Leao for the success”
Ehhh, no! From an article translated by Google Translate:
“The team’s stats confirm a reality that’s now fairly clear: with Leao on the pitch, Milan becomes a more open, more unbalanced team, more difficult to control for better or worse.
The Rossoneri produce fewer xG (1.70 when he plays, 2.16 when he’s not) without managing to compensate in defense, where the xGA (1.32 when he’s on the pitch, 0.45 when he’s not) and shots conceded figures have increased significantly. “
We’re a better team without him. Like it or not. Even the stats prove it. 🙂
I have been watching AC Milan ever since Pulicic joined. Leao never passes to Pulicic unless he has no choice. I believe as time went on Pulicic started doing the same thing. You can go watch past games and see it. These two do not play well together. I assumed it was because Leao has no respect for American players. Maybe time for Pulicic to move on to Liverpool. Takes two hands to clap.
Leao has been ignoring Pulisic since day one. Now he gets butt-hurt getting the same treatment.
Pulisic makes so many runs and doesn’t get the ball either. There are numerous occasions in the past where Leao didn’t play Pulisic in but Pulisic, as a professional and good teammate, continued to play hard. I’m guessing either Leao or Pulisic will go this summer but who knows.
Please give evidence, you all just keep talking trying to justify nonsense and selfish play that ended up costing us
Go watch replays of like every game. especially last year or the year before.
Watch his highlights. Milan won the supercoppa last year because Pulisic played a beautiful through ball to Leao who then crossed to Tammy for a tap in. Pulisic has been struggling the last few months but he has never had that problem.
I watched a replay of the match last night and the difference in tempo and team speed during the last 30 minutes is what we need from the start of every game. This is not the first time that Milan raised the tempo of the game this season and the issue may not be Allegri’s system as much as Milan plays down to weaker teams. Lazio were on their heels the last 25-30 minutes and most everything went through Pulisic and everyone was involved. Would like to see Pulisic and Leao start together against Torino but with the entire team playing faster from the first minute. Pulisic was the best player on the field the last 30 minutes getting everyone involved. Ask the Lazio fans which Milan player they feared the most and why.
Sell all of them, and give Max what he wants, they don’t work in our system anyway. Leao, Pulisic, Nkunku, bring back Camarda, get Retegui, and get someone who can play off of Mario. If we’re going to play like Inter, get the profile of forwards inter has always had, because this system is how inter has been playing for the last 30 years.
Again, folks are either on team Pulisic or team Leao.
No one is looking at the bigger picture being that they are played in the wrong system and can not play off each other. They succeed with a 9 to bounce off.
Both players have their faults and both have their merits and in a functional system both are pivotal to Milan’s success. But because everyone is a monday quarterback and they don’t pass the eye test, folks start piling on one side or the other.
I repeat: we need both players for this team to be successful. But Max has to put them in positions to succeed. And so far he can not do that because he has no defensive assurances to field three up front.
This isn’t his first rodeo – Max can tell this hasn’t been working optimally from an offensive standpoint? The bigger picture is that we are in second and well underway to secure CL – which with THIS team it’s about the most you can do.
Without investment into positions of need this team will never fire on all cylinder. The answer is simple:
– bring in good wing backs to play 4 at the back
– upgrade CB’s to play 4 at the back.
– bring in a mid close to Rabiot’s skill set for midfield control
– and finally buy a good 9 to play with Puli and Leao.
The problem isn’t Puli or Leao. The problem is the management and it’s lack of a clear plan to improve this team in positions of need. This is exactly what Maldini was asking for that got him fired. Fast forward 4 years and we’re still no closer to repeating our winning season.
He’s not wrong. Pulisic is a fan favorite, so people are often reluctant to criticize him. He is a very good player but he struggles with a basic problem. He can’t lift his head up with the ball under his feet, which often compromises so many well-built attacks.
For any striker this is frustrating, but especially for a player like Leao who likes to play the ball, but had to give it up for the sake of the system.
It feels like your sacrificing your best qualities, but your teammate isn’t reciprocating. That’s a problem.
From Gdog:
Pulisic played 1200 minutes played 428 successful passes, 31 chances created 7 big chances created
Leão played 1500 minutes played 381 successful passes, 16 chances created, 7 big chances created
I would say he’s only struggled with that recently. Thats definitely not true of him before his recent struggles.
“Pulisic is a fan favorite”
😀 😀 😀 😀
“It feels like your sacrificing your best qualities, but your teammate isn’t reciprocating. That’s a problem.”
Or maybe it’s HIM that is the problem. From an article translated by Google Translate:
“The team’s stats confirm a reality that’s now fairly clear: with Leao on the pitch, Milan becomes a more open, more unbalanced team, more difficult to control for better or worse.
The Rossoneri produce fewer xG (1.70 when he plays, 2.16 when he’s not) without managing to compensate in defense, where the xGA (1.32 when he’s on the pitch, 0.45 when he’s not) and shots conceded figures have increased significantly. “
Hes played plenty of vertical passes. Your just dead wrong on this. Sorry.
If there is one person on this team that should not be saying that a player plays alone and does not pass, it’s Leah. He needs to look in the mirror. The guy is a disease. And this team has been infected.
Oli was right, pulisic isnt passing to you leao cause your SHYTE
Alegris combinations up front is the root cause at the end of the day.
People read to much into these things. In the heat of the moments words like this are always said. They are all extremely competative with high demands on their teammates. Zlatan would yell this every day at training during five a side games.
In this game Leao was right. Pulisic misssed several chances to release him into a good position. Next time he will play the ball because of this
Leao was right? Was his behavior right? If you’ve watched Milan play this season you’d know that Leao had decided not to feed Pulisic many, many, many times just like Puli did in the last match. We don’t see Pulisic kicking the water bottles, shoving the coach and acting like a 5-year-old who got denied candy though.
But sure, let’s blame Pulisic for being a selfish bastard who is out there to ruin Leao’s game – intentionally of course.