GdS: ‘Cursed attack’ – Leao ready to step up with Füllkrug facing 10 days out

Lady Luck isn’t on the side of AC Milan’s forwards, with Niclas Füllkrug already set to face a period out due to injury.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall, Massimiliano Allegri has already had to do without Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic, Santiago Gimenez and Christopher Nkunku for varying amounts of time during the season, and we are only halfway through.

Now, the latest blow is to Füllkrug. The German suffered a toe injury in Florence on Sunday and a fractured phalangeal joint that required manuel adjustment. It’s not a serious injury, but it’s certainly an uncomfortable one.

He will tomorrow night’s trip to Como and almost certainly Sunday’s match at the San Siro against Lecce, but he should be fit and available for Sunday’s match at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma. This is good news given initial reports spoke of a month out, but more bad news for Allegri.

For Füllkrug it is yet another physical issue. In the last year and a half he has suffered an inflammation of his Achilles tendon and then a muscle problem that limited his performance.

Leao’s time to shine

Allegri, on the other hand, can be happy with Rafael Leao’s progress. Yesterday, the Portuguese completed the entire session with his team-mates and demonstrated less discomfort in his groin and right adductor. If he feels the same today, there’s a real possibility that he’ll be the starting striker, alongside Christian Pulisic.

On Sunday at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, the Rossoneri were saved by a goal from Nkunku, his third goal of his tenure with the Rossoneri. However, the Frenchman hasn’t trained much in the last two weeks due to a foot injury he suffered against Verona.

Rafa, on the other hand, has been under treatment for some time now to prevent the adductor problem from turning into pubalgia (a lower back issue). In this regard, a busy January isn’t helping, with five games in 18 days s.

Regardless, this is an important moment, and the Portuguese winger not only wants to be available against Como, but to start from minute one. Yesterday, he made it clear he’s feeling better, and if the discomfort doesn’t return today then all signs point towards it.