When it comes to Rafael Leao there are two factions: those who call him an excellent player and those who consider him a normal player. In the world of football the numbers never lie and although it is criticized for a lack of continuity, the statistics prove the opposite. In Milan and in the Serie A championship, no player up to this point has had a positive impact on his team like Rafa.
The first season as number 10
This season, the first from number 10which ended yesterday with a 3-3 draw against Salernitana, Leao played 47 matches for Milan in the four competitions (Serie A, Italian Cup, Champions League and Europa League) for a total of 3,545 minutes. His numbers in terms of goals and assists were positive, because 15 goals were scored and 14 assists were provided to his teammates. So good 29 goals, Leao’s name was mentioned among scorers and assistmen. Looking at the 2023/2024 season in detail, in A leagueRafa Leao missed only four matches (Fiorentina, Frosinone and Atalanta due to injury and Empoli due to disqualification) playing 2,522 minutes, with 9 goals and 10 assists. In the 34 occasions in which he took to the pitch, 29 of them he started from the beginning and only in 5 matches did he come on during the match (twice Cagliari, Lecce, Turin and Genoa).
In the top European competition, Leao who was criticized for a few too many errors in front of goal, played five games from the start, missing (due to injury) only the home (and decisive) match against Dortmund, who beat San Siro 3 to 1 and condemned to the Rossoneri are relegated to the Europa League. The numbers here only talk about 1 goal (against PSG) in 442 minutes. We expected a little more in this competition for the Portuguese to be honest…
Portuguese, in second European competitioni.e. the former UEFA Cup (Europa League), played all six games since the start, with a balance of 3 goals and 4 assists in 471 minutes.
We conclude with the Italian Cupwhere Milan only played two matches: Leao came on 20 minutes into the round of 16 against Cagliari and found the net, and the same happened in the quarterfinals against Atalantawhen he played the entire match and found the goal for the momentary 1-0.
The past years
Comparing some numbers from past seasons too, we note that only last year (2022/2023), Rafa did slightly better: 48 games played with 16 goals and 15 assists in 3,487 minutes.
If we take the year of the scudetto (2021/2022), In 3,201 minutes divided into 42 games, the Portuguese scored 14 goals and provided 12 winning assists.
Vittorio Cesarini
