GdS: ‘The least understandable choice of the year’ – Conceicao’s Leao exclusion backfires | OneFootball

Sergio Conceicao’s decision to play Joao Felix over Rafael Leao from minute one against Napoli continues to draw scrutiny from the Italian media.

La Gazzetta dello Sport begin a report with some stats. Milan’s shots on target: 0 in the first half, four in the second. Total shots: five in the first half, 11 in the second. Expected goals: 0.49 in the first half, 2.17 in the second.

Something must have changed halfway through, and indeed it did: Conceiçao sent Leao onto the pitch and the game changed completely. There is a moral to this story: in the current Milan, it makes no sense for Rafa Leao to be left out, especially if the starter is Joao Felix.

The author of the piece, Luca Bianchin, calls it ‘the least understandable choice of the year’. It is no coincidence that Conceiçao sent the No.10 to warm up after 20 minutes: he had already changed his mind.

Conceiçao was asked about it last night: “In the afternoon they told me that Leao was feeling a bit of discomfort in his thigh, but we had already prepared the match without him. I’m not saying that he didn’t play because of what the doctor told me.”

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The choice is inexplicable, and it was the 11th time this season that Leao has started a game on the bench. The fact remains that Milan often do not build properly from the back, do not have ideas with the ball and rely on individual plays. Leao, among the individuals, is by far the one with the most talent.

Rafa is partly to blame. For a couple of seasons he has been going through ups and downs, this seasn more than most. He scores less than in previous seasons – 10 goals so far, a year ago he got to 15, two years ago to 16 – and he hasn’t made the leap in quality that everyone expected.

From the Scudetto season where he was MVP to now being left out by tactical choice suggests a long steady decline. Leao has started four times on the bench in the last eight league games. It’s hard for him to find confidence like that.