The decision to bench Rafael Leao for the away game against Napoli on Sunday night raised some eyebrows, and a report has criticised the call from Sergio Conceicao.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes that Leao may have all his flaws, but at this moment – as delicate as it is decisive in the season – he cannot be on the bench as happened two days ago against Napoli.
Conceiçao’s choice to prefer Joao Felix did not work, so much so that at half-time the coach was forced to field Leao to try to recover the two-goal deficit. The paper states ‘enough benches’ before going on to state that the winger has been a blessing and a curse for Milan this season, as always.
And yet, he must always play because the team depends too much on him. After the obvious problems with Paulo Fonseca, the victory in the Supercoppa Italiana seemed like the beginning of an positive period with Conceiçao, but instead the former Porto player has also started to bench him.
In the last eight league games he hasn’t started four times. It’s true that as a substitute Rafa has often been decisive, though at this moment it’s unthinkable to leave him out, especially to field someone like Joao Felix, who has been a huge disappointment since he arrived at Milanello.
Tomorrow night at San Siro, the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter is scheduled and Leao will once again have a starting spot, in the hope that he can leave his mark against the Nerazzurri as already happened in the Supercoppa final.
His season, like pretty much the entirety of Milan, has had many ups and downs. But, if the Diavolo want to try and win a second trophy and thus earn Europa League qualification, they need their game-breaker.
