Champions League – Inter – AC Milan: Back, can Rafael Leão really save the Rossoneri?

“The Milan fight”. It is with this banner that the Curva Sud went to Milanello on Sunday. And who cares if it was Mother’s Day in Italy. Two days before the Euroderby comeback against Inter, the ultras of AC Milan, not really resentful of the setback in the first leg (0-2) and the sad defeat in Spezia (2-0) three days later decided to gather en masse to encourage their troops. Out to thank them and applaud them, the players of Stefano Pioli, whose morale is at the bottom of the socks, can therefore count on a public inflated to block before the confrontation on Tuesday evening (9 p.m.). Also present at the Milan training center, Rafael Leão seems ready to return to the field after his absence in the last two meetings. An additional reason for hope for a recovery operation which however promises to be difficult.

After having carried out a good part of the collective training on Sunday, simply missing the final confrontation on a reduced pitch, the Portuguese tested himself again on Monday. And its sensations were good, even if its autonomy over ninety minutes could be limited. Not enough to curb his ambition to be a starter for a crucial match. In the first leg, Leão had tried everything until the last minute, even to be on the bench. In vain. This time, he prepared for six days with one goal: to start the game. “We must go on the pitch with the conviction that we can beat at Interwarned his coach on Saturday after the rout in the league. I think we have the qualities to do it. We are going to play the most important game of our season.” And playing it with Leão is something else altogether.

With 13 goals and 13 assists in 44 matches this season, the Milan number 17, voted best player of the 2021-2022 season, is essential for a losing team. In the results, the inspiration and the game. With him, Milan have an average of 2.2 points in the league, registering a winning percentage of 64%. Without him, the fall is dizzying: 0.8 points / game and 11% wins. The only success without the Portuguese international dates back to Milan-Monza (4-1) on October 22. In the Champions League, it was he who made the decisive pass to Ismaël Bennacer in the quarter-final first leg against Napoli. And on the way back, it’s him again who invents a solitary raid to deliver a caviar to Olivier Giroud. “When he plays, he gives strength to all his teammatesestimated Frank Rijkaard, a former Milan midfielder, during Milano Football Week. You have to believe in him for the return.” “He is an extraordinary player who is still halfway through his career.“, confided Zvonimir Boban, also admiring the former Lille.

The problem is that there is only one Leão in this Milan. Beyond that, the Milanese attack does not weigh much: Brahim Diaz and Junior Messias have only six goals each this season, Alexis Saelemaekers even less (4 goals). Ante Rebic is only a shadow of himself (3 goals), while the newcomers (Origi, De Ketelaere) have all the trouble in the world to integrate and impose themselves. Not to mention Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose season comes down to 144 minutes and a converted penalty. Finally, only Olivier Giroud (13 goals, 7 assists) lives up to expectations. Except that the French striker is 36 years old, he has been playing injured for a month (tendon inflammation, calf problem) and no one is able to give him the relay to make him breathe. Between Milan and Inter, one of the big differences is the depth of the bench.

An imminent extension

Despite these obvious shortcomings, Rafael Leão will still try to overturn the table with his teammates on Tuesday night. Not easy, but not impossible. “Milan still has the merit of being alive after this first leg,” assured Fabio Capello this week, although pessimistic about the final outcome of this double confrontation. “Leão cannot serve to bridge the technical difference, but the mental oneyes, estimated Gianluigi Buffon. When you know you can count on an extraordinary player, everyone else comes in with more confidence. They know they have a weapon to hurt. And that can also condition Inter.”

For now, the Nerazzurri have the advantage of derbies this season. Of the previous four, they won three (one in the league, one in the Italian Supercup and one in the semi-finals of the C1) so twice with Leão on the pitch. “If the team doesn’t rotate, he can’t do everything either“, recognizes a close friend of the Milan group. In the last eight 100% Milanese confrontations, Inter have always led the score, even scoring a goal in the first ten minutes on five occasions. Which says a lot about the inability of AC Milan to take countermeasures on its rival.