AC Milan’s forward Rafael Leao reacts on the bench ahead of the Italian Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 19 Ocrober 2024. EPA-EFE/Daniel Dal Zennaro
Rafael Leao sent out an Instagram story which read ‘Progress is impossible without change’ after being left on the bench at the start of Milan’s 3-2 victory against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Portugal international was replaced by Noah Okafor in Paulo Fonseca’s starting XI, but he emerged as a second-half substitute while the scores were level at 1-1 and managed to restore the Rossoneri advantage just over 20 minutes later.
This is not the first time this season that Leao has been left out of the Milan line-up.
He was also dropped for the 2-2 draw against Lazio three games into the Serie A season, and was on the bench again for three matches in a row against Udinese, Napoli and Monza in October.
Shortly after full-time on Tuesday night, Leao shared a picture to his Instagram story, which showed a jumper with the words “Progress is impossible without change,” across the back.
What Leao and Fonseca said about being on the Milan bench
Speaking after full-time, Leao admitted that he isn’t always pleased to sit on the bench.
“Fonseca knows that I don’t like sitting on the bench, but if he decides otherwise, I’m always ready for my team. I’m happy, the coach is doing a good job and we want to understand his ideas even more. Results will come with time,” he said in a post-match interview.
Fonseca, meanwhile, said that Leao ‘understands’ the reasoning behind the decision to leave him out of the starting line-up.
“I always talk with Rafa, he knows why he didn’t play today. He understood, and when he came on he was decisive. I think that’s what we all want. I’m happy. Even when he’s on the bench he always wants to help the team and that’s really positive,” Fonseca said on Tuesday night.
