Psg-Milan, Leao and Pioli’s plan to let him score more goals. Garlando’s analysis

If Rafa Leao were a Subbuteo man, Stefano Pioli, with a flick of his finger, would push him towards the goal. AC Milan, who dictated the game and created a lot without producing goals in the two Champions League matches and the half in numerical parity with Juve, need to make better use of the Portuguese’s great offensive talent.

analyses

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It’s absurd that a boy of his talent doesn’t take a single shot on goal in a match, like Sunday’s, spent largely in the third of a Juventus team huddled behind. One shot out, one blocked, no one between the posts. But there is an even more significant figure: 10 crosses, more than anyone else, of which only one was scored. It is the certification of a frequent sensation. Too often Leao copies the usual action: he tears down the wing, stops and delivers a soft, easy-to-read ball. Instead, Milan, which in terms of firepower is just beyond Giroud, would need its totem to attack the area more, to enter it more often, preferably at speed, to find shots, assists, penalties and, in any case, to spread panic with his technique in the straits.

mbappe model

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Let’s take as touchstones the two left wingers that Leao will face in the next matches: Mbappé (PSG) and Kvaratskhelia (Napoli). The Parisian (4.9) and the Georgian (4.2) double the Portuguese (1.9) in terms of average shots per game. And they lead him even more significantly in the ranking of touches in the area which Mbappé leads with an average of 11.4 per game, over Kvara (9.0) and Leao (7.4). This is why Pioli will snitch the little man Rafa, he wants him closer to the area, and not just out there to deliver crosses. In fact, crosses scored is the only ranking dominated by the Rossoneri (1) ahead of Mbappé (0.2) and Kvara (0.1). But it’s a waste to reduce it to a catapult. How to use a Modigliani statue as a door stop. In these Rossoneri years, Pioli has worked hard and well on Rafa’s pure talent, trimming his excesses and making his attacking phase more ineffective. But he wants him to be even more present in the area, with the ball at his feet, and even without it, attacking the far post, when Calabria and Pulisic work on the right, applying the malice that Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo use when they break away from the left flank to attack the goal . In reality, the comparison with Kylian and CR7 sounds ungenerous, because, even if they like to start from the sidelines, they are two first strikers, exempt from dirty work without the ball. Leao helps a little more. Not so much, according to Sacchi… But, in exchange for this privilege, Milan expect him to be more decisive, like Mbappè: 9 goals in 10 matches with PSG, 2 in the last national match against Holland.

like in Naples

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In recent walks against Slovakia and Bosnia, Portugal scored 8 goals. The cannibal Cristiano has signed 4, one Joao Felix, none Leao who is stuck at 3 for the season. Too few. You have to expect 15-16 goals per championship from a phenomenon with Rafa’s technical and athletic potential. In the midst of Covid, Pioli confided: “Calha has a lot of goals and assists under his belt. I’ll get them out of him.” He succeeded. Now he is working to increase Leao’s decisiveness. Centralizing it in front of the goal is not the best solution. When he joined Giroud in the 3-5-2, Rafa often lost his bearings. He needs wing references. The solution is to attack the area with more frequency and conviction, with and without the ball. Like Kvara in Verona. Pioli is teaching him how to score by talking to him and making him watch matches. There’s nothing to invent. We have already seen the Leao that Milan needs in this delicate contingency: he is Maradona’s Leao last season. He is the attacker who, in the 4-0 championship, attacked the depth centrally, with the malice of Higuain, to dictate the assist to Diaz and spoon past Meret. It is the train that, in the second leg of the Champions League, started from his half of the field, with the goal in mind, and reached the end, without stops, to assist Giroud’s goal. Aggressive, vertical, furious, hungry for goals: it is Leao who will serve tomorrow at the Parc des Princes, ahead of Mbappé.