Milan and Okafor must ensure Leao’s absence is not heavily felt

AC Milan will be without Rafael Leao for today’s game against Empoli due to suspension, and the team must prove they can cope without their most creative force.

This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) talks about Stefano Pioli’s plan to rotate the attack and defence against Empoli this afternoon, but a couple of the changes will be forced given Leao and Alessandro Florenzi are both suspended.

Leao will take advantage of the forced break to recover energy in view of the return match against Slavia Praha, a game that Milan must take very seriously after the scares in the 4-2 first leg win, with a spot in the quarter-finals of the Europa League up for grabs.

In general, this will be the fifth time this season that the Rossoneri have been forced to do without the Portuguese winger and on the four previous occasions, Milan obtained two victories (1-0 against Fiorentina and 3-1 against Frosinone) and lost the other two matches (against Dortmund at San Siro and in Bergamo against Atalanta).

In place of Leao it will be Noah Okafor who gets the start on the left according to reports, and he must demonstrate that he is not just an impact player off the bench but can do damage when starting too.