The revenge journey: Milan and Roma’s battle in the Europa League second leg
Milan seeks to excel and Roma defends its status in an exciting confrontation on its ground
It seems that Rafael Leao is striving hard to calm his critics, as his team Milan seeks to compensate for the defeat it suffered in the first leg against Roma with a score of 0-1. The next match will be held tomorrow, Thursday, in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, on the pitch of the Olympic Stadium in the Italian capital.
Leao was subjected to several criticisms after the first leg match that took place last week at the San Siro stadium, which is considered the stronghold of Milan team, due to his lackluster performance during that meeting.
However, Leao’s performance appeared better in the match that followed, where Milan managed to compensate for its two-goal deficit to end the match with a 3-3 draw against Sassuolo, who is struggling to stay in the Italian first division, in the match that took place last Sunday.
Leao, 24, who scored the first goal for Milan in the match against Sassuolo, realizes that he needs more stability in his performance.
In his statements to the “Milan” television channel, the Portuguese player said: “I hope to be a help to my team. If I do not score a goal, I hope to perform well and win. This is the most important thing for me.”
Leao added: “I enjoyed providing good performances and helping my teammates in the team. I want to perform better now. We know that the return is possible.”
He continued: “We have to start strong, try to score in the first minutes and then continue playing as if the match was a final.”
Goalkeeper Mike Maignan is expected to return after missing the previous match as a precautionary measure, but there are doubts about the participation of Simon Kjaer due to the muscle injury he suffered in that meeting, where he and his defensive colleague Pierre Kalulu were absent from today’s training.
Gianluca Mancini scored the only goal of the match in the 17th minute, giving Roma a 1-0 victory over Milan last week, continuing a good performance since Daniele De Rossi took over the team’s training instead of the Portuguese Mourinho.
But De Rossi realizes that Milan will have a great desire to compensate for the loss during the second leg match tomorrow, Thursday.
The British news agency “PA Media” quoted De Rossi as saying: “Milan will fight with all their strength. It is their last chance, they want to win and achieve their goals for this season. The match will definitely be difficult.”
De Rossi emphasized, saying: “We are ready for the match, we want to win it and we will try to score. Even if the goal is not decisive, scoring it will definitely be a strong blow.”
DISCLAIMER! Sportmob does not claim ownership of any of the pictures posted on this website. Again, we do not host pictures or videos ourselves. Our authors merely link to the rightful owner. Lastly, Sportmob have carefully considered and reviewed all of its content. Despite that, it is possible that some information might be out-dated or incomplete.