Pioli jokes about Leao’s ‘Conceicao’ shirt: 'I wouldn’t have let him come on!'

Stefano Pioli even managed to have a bit of a joke about the Sergio Conceicao rumours after the win against Cagliari last night, one relating to the name on Rafael Leao’s shirt.

Conceicao is currently the head coach of Porto but he is the name that is being linked to Milan with the most insistence at present, given that Pioli seems to have reached the end of his tenure at the club.

After the game Pioli spoke to DAZN to reflect on the win and he was asked if he decided to leave Leao on the bench to begin with because of the name ‘Conceicao’ on the back of his shirt.

“I hadn’t seen it, otherwise I wouldn’t have let him come on! I’m obviously joking… I’m happy for Rafa,” he said.

“Every coach has to make choices, I’m happy with their reaction. The season it’s not finished yet, second place is not yet certain. We still have to score a few points, we hope to get them on Saturday.”

The reason that he had that name on his shirt is because the Milan players wore their mothers’ maiden names for the game, and Leao’s full name is ‘Rafael Alexandre da Conceição Leão’, with Conceição belonging to his maternal side.