Leao boosts Milan’s improbable Champions League bid

MILAN:

Rafael Leao returns for Milan’s last desperate bid to reach the Champions League knockout stages, with the seven-time European champions eyeing an early exit ahead of their final Group F game at Newcastle on Wednesday.

Portugal forward Leao has been sidelined for the past month with a hamstring injury, but Milan are confident their winger will be ready to start at St James’ Park and repeat his stunning display against Paris Saint-Germain ahead of a month.

The 24-year-old is Milan’s undoubted star, the player who when fit can turn a game around in his side’s favour, but his performances have been erratic in a troubled season for the Italian side.

Milan will need a version of the Leao who tore PSG to pieces if they are to have any chance of progressing to the last 16, as a painful home defeat to Borussia Dortmund in their most recent group game left qualification out of control.

Leao has scored four times and set up three more this season but has been criticized for a lackluster display, with the 2-1 home equalizer against PSG his first goal in the better part of two months.

“Criticism drives me, keep talking because I’ll answer on the pitch,” Leao said after PSG’s win, which was the last time he found the net as he picked up a hamstring knock days later in Lecce.

After Dortmund’s defeat left AC Milan bottom of the group, Yassin Adli said his side had a “two to three percent chance of qualifying” and that going to the next round is indeed a tall order.

Milan need to beat Newcastle, which is not impossible, judging by the 4-1 drubbing of Eddie Howe’s side at Tottenham on Sunday, but they also need group leaders Dortmund to beat PSG, who are two points off ahead of Milan in second place.

3-0 in Paris in October means Milan must finish with more points than PSG or face relegation to the Europa League or – if they fail to win in England – elimination from all continental competitions.

And the team is already on a low following Saturday’s defeat at Atalanta, which left Milan nine points behind Serie A leaders Inter and fans calling for manager Stefano Pioli’s head.

Pioli is on good terms with the club’s hierarchy and American RedBird owners and has plenty of credit in the bank after guiding Milan back to the top echelons of the game.

The 2022 Serie A title and last season’s run to the Champions League semi-finals were the highlights of the post-Silvio Berlusconi era.

He’s also doing well with returning idol Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was key alongside Pioli in Milan’s re-establishment as a big player.

Ibrahimovic, who called time on his career in June, was hired as a “senior adviser” by RedBird with a wide-ranging mandate that was met with confusion by fans and pundits and led to suspicions that Pioli’s job was at risk.

“When he came back to Milan as a player, he was in the dressing room and had an impact there,” said Fabio Capello, a four-time Serie A winner with Milan in the 1990s.

“We don’t know if he is allowed to enter the dressing room or if he is allowed to shake Pioli’s hand, nor do we know if bringing him in will weaken Pioli’s authority.”

With just three wins from 10 games since the October international break, Pioli’s authority has already been questioned by fans and has not been helped by a number of injuries.

Milan are so short in defense that France left-back Theo Hernandez will again have to feature in the center alongside Fikayo Tomori, further putting the onus on Leao to be the wonder man.