Rafael Leao Is Finally Exploding, With Milan’s Rough Diamond Becoming Its Clutch Player

It’s sight that has become more and more familiar as the Serie A season draws to a thrilling climax: Rafael Leao bearing down on goal and scoring for Milan.

In the 55^th minute against Atalanta at a near sold out San Siro in a match Milan simply had to win, Leao latched on to Junior Messias’ through ball down the centre of the pitch, outpaced Teun Koopmeiners, raced into the box and slotted the ball through the legs of Juan Musso to give Milan the lead.

It was yet another clutch moment from a player who has produced so many of them in the title run-in. Leao’s 11^th league goal of the season broke the tension inside San Siro, calmed the nerves of many of his teammates, and allowed the Rossoneri to score another — Theo Hernandez’s coast-to-coast stunner — and secure the win that in all likelihood will see Milan win their first Scudetto since 2010/11.

Leao has, in the final few months of the season, began to show why Milan coach Stefano Pioli likened him to former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry earlier this year. Since signing for the club in 2019, Leao had shown glimpses of true brilliance, a diamond in the rough who just needed to iron out the kinks in his game.

At times, Leao was guilty of being too flashy, taking on one too many players instead of passing the ball on. He was also guilty of being somewhat wasteful in front of goal, a lack of end product that wasn’t matching everything that would come before. Leao would often blitz past opposing defenders with such nonchalant ease before blazing his shot either wide, over the bar or straight at the goalkeeper. It was infuriating to watch no doubt from a Milan perspective.

But those days seem to be less and less now. The rough diamond is becoming more polished, and that is bad news for the rest of Serie A.

In the last five matches, Leao has settled the game against Fiorentina, provided two assists in the 3-1 away win against Verona – arguably the hardest of Milan’s final five matches, set up with Olivier Giroud’s equaliser away to Lazio and put away a superb volley early on against Genoa. In short, he’s come to the fore when it’s mattered most, and how Milan have needed him.

While this season Pioli’s men have been more resolute at the back, keeping 16 clean sheets in Serie A so far, Milan have found it more difficult to score goals. The absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ante Rebic for long patches of the season has blunted their attack. The pair of them scored 26 league goals last season combined, this season that figure is just 10. Rebic, in particular, has really struggled for fitness this season, and has just played over 1,000 minutes of football all season. Ibrahimovic’s last Serie A goal came against Venezia at the beginning of January.

With Brahim Diaz and Messias struggling to either create chances or score goals, the pressure has fallen on Giroud and Leao to carry the burden, and both have answered the call. Leao has now emerged as the star of the Milan attack and, along with Sandro Tonali, has been the club’s best player in the second half of the season.

Leao has 11 goals and seven assists in Serie A this season. Seven of his 11 have come post-Christmas, while five of his seven contributions have also come in 2022.

Milan are looking to tie Leao down to a long-term contract, with his existing one expiring in the summer of 2024. Should the club be taken over at the end of the season, with the seemingly nailed-on takeover by InvestCorp now not looking so nailed-on, then one of their first acts should be to extend his contract. If the InvestCorp deal doesn’t happen, then Elliott Management should still look to renew his contract.

Leao is happy at Milan by all accounts, but his form is attracting attention from sides with bigger capital, and losing him would undo all of the club’s patience in waiting for him to explode.

And this is what we are now seeing with Leao, a player finally exploding into the sort who can win matches on his own, a clutch player who can produce when it matters, a player who could seal the Scudetto for Milan after 11 years without a trophy against Sassuolo on Sunday.

Milan are slowly morphing into Leao’s team, and should the Italian flag be stitched on to Rossoneri shirts next season, Leao will have played a major part in that.