AC Milan drawing 0-0 with Newcastle United on Tuesday was a better result for the away team, especially given the run of play suggested the Rossoneri should have taken all three points.
Still, it wasn’t a disaster for the home side, who had lost 5-1 to Inter Milan at the San Siro days earlier and needed something vaguely positive to move on with.
After the match, the reaction was mixed, although not too critical of Milan, with a lot of praise sent to Newcastle United for their defensive display.
Now, though, the post mortem can really get going as annoyance builds over Milan’s failure to make the most of their dominance.
And there’s one man taking much of the blame… Rafael Leao.
The 24-year-old was named MVP by UEFA, but isn’t getting the same treatment in Italy.
They forgive him for missing a header, but say: ‘What cannot be accepted, again regarding the Portuguese, is the mistake made in the first half when he appears in front of the goalkeeper and instead of kicking on goal to score an easy goal after a wonderful personal move, he decides to invent an unlikely back-heel shot in an attempt to score the goal of the century.
‘That attempted back-heel, it’s painful to say, reminded us of Balotelli’s famous pirouette with Manchester City which earned him his immediate substitution by Mancini. The difference is that there, it was a summer friendly in the United States, instead of the Champions League debut at the San Siro.’
That is almost certainly going way over the top, and Leao just seemed to hesitate too long, not being able to find the shot he wanted.
