Rafael Leao ended his wait for a goal at San Siro as he scored to cap off a brilliant 3-0 victory against Rennes in the first leg of the Europa League play-off round.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recalls, Leao was a livewire all night. In the first half he hit the crossbar, while in the second half he scored the goal that made it 3-0 after a familiar but beautiful combination with Theo Hernandez.
The Portuguese winger returned to the scoresheet after a month given that his last goal was Milan-Atalanta in the Coppa Italia, and the one against Rennes is a goal with a particular flavour because it is his 50th with the Milan shirt (in 192 matches).
The paper adds that that there was a bit of concern among the fans when he asked for a substitution not long after finding the net, but it was the player himself who reassured everyone as soon as the match was over.
“I took a knock on the calf, but everything’s fine, I’ll be there against Monza, no problem,” he said. Also breathing a big sigh of relief is Stefano Pioli who always defended Leao with all his might, even when he wasn’t scoring.
After the final whistle, Leao told Sky how much he missed scoring goals: “I missed scoring, goals are important for confidence . Even though I was doing well anyway, with assists: football is a collective sport.
“Being returning to score goals in Europe is nice, but the championship is also important. And the fans have always helped me, supported me and always given me even when I was experiencing less good moments. I thank them and also my teammates and my family.”
After setting up Theo Hernandez for the winner against Napoli, it was time for the full-back to return the favour after a brilliant move down the right side.
“Theo makes my game easy. We get along well on the pitch, when he has the ball I already know what to do. Giroud goes to the near post, I go to that area near the spot. It’s easy to play with players like that, I’m lucky to have teammates like that,” Leao added.
#THEAO…. You can’t stop it.
I hope we can retain his services beyond this season. As inconsistent as he is I don’t see a Milan without Leao. He just has that something extra that gives us that fear factor…