Giornale: An assist, a goal and smiles – Pioli’s decision lights a spark in Leao

Stefano Pioli made some bold calls with his starting line-up last night, but it seemed to draw out the reaction that he hoped for from some of his key players, in particular Rafael Leao.

As Il Giornale (via MilanNews) writes this morning, when the official line-ups for Milan-Cagliari came out last night there were some rather notable absences in the Milan side, such as Davde Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez and above all Leao.

The Portuguese winger entered the field at the beginning of the second half and did so with the right attitude and spirit, giving the necessary turning point to the match thanks to his dynamism and quality.

It was immediately clear that Leao had come on with the desire to do damage when Christian Pulisic’s cross from the right was met by the former Lille man at the far post but he hit the bar. Shortly after, the Portuguese gave an assist to the American for the goal to make it 2-0.

In the 83rd minute Leao got his name on the scoresheet with one of his usual bursts that cut the Cagliari defence in two. A wonderful ball in behind from Bennacer set him up, but he did well to steady himself, round the goalkeeper and slot in to make it 4-1.

Starting the game on the bench perhaps triggered something in Leao after the latest disappointing performances and the jeers at San Siro when he was substituted against Genoa.