GdS: Leao ‘working overtime’ – mission to become Milan’s leader again resumes

Rafael Leao has recovered from his injury, and wants to return to having a leading role for Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) outlines the busy few days that await Leao: a family Christmas – which means celebrating with loved ones – and playing football for Milan, with the Hellas Verona game just a few days away.

Today Leao will be at Milanello, tomorrow he won’t (the training complex will be closed). However, there will be plenty of work for Rafa to carry home so he can continue his personalised recovery program.

Leao is therefore called upon to work overtime for an extraordinary 2026, but he wants to sign off the current year in style against Verona, having recovered the adductor discomfort that sidelined him over two weeks and forced hkm to miss the Supercoppa Italiana.

Since returning from Riyadh, Leao has continued his specific training non-stop, and his hard work has finally paid off. He returned to working with the group two days ago, and will do so again today and in the days leading up to the next league match.

Top numbers

Despite a season disrupted by injuries which have forced him to miss six of 18 games, Rafael Leao has still been decisive. Of the games he has played, he has only started ten: his six goals overall therefore yield an excellent scoring rate, practically more than one for every two starts.

Counting minutes on the pitch, he averages a goal every 127 minutes. With Leao heading for a return to the starting line-up Allegri is aiming to reunite the pairing with Christian Pulisic. Chris and Rafa have only started two games together due to injuries at different times.

To finish the year with a bang, Milan need to be at their best. Pulisic and Leao are the team’s two most prolific forwards, with the USA international just one goal shy of double figures: seven in Serie A, two in the Coppa Italia.

Leao meanwhile scored a brace at home against Fiorentina, a goal against Pisa, an assist against Roma, and a winner against Lazio. He also scored against Bari in the Coppa Italia debut in August. The numbers also say that Leao is decisive in his new role as a centre-forward.

Allegri wanted him to move to the middle, and Rafa immediately agreed to leave his comfort zone on the left. As a striker, he knows how to communicate with the team and participate in the build-up play.

He can aspire to be a leader, as he was in the 2021-22 Scudetto-winning season, with eleven goals in 34 appearances and the award for MVP. He could even hope to surpass his best scoring season, which was 2022-23: 15 goals in 35 league games.

This was followed by two decidedly more anonymous seasons, in which Rafa was not even able to reach double figures. The last one with Pioli at the helm yielded nine Serie A goals, and last season he got eight despite having two Portuguese head coaches.

New targets

In 2026, Rafa will turn 27, the height of his footballing maturity. Niclas Füllkrug won’t be the one to displace him as the starting centre-forward, though the quest for Leao to reach a consistently high level remains.

The goals are set: a grand finale and another year as a key player with Milan, and a summer of prominence with Portugal as well. Leao has made 43 appearances and scored five goals for his national team, with which he won the 2025 Nations League.

It will be his second World Cup, after the one in Qatar in 2022 when he scored two goals in five appearances but did not start. In short, the World Cup has yet to discover him. The opportunity has been presented and he wants to take it, after a good season with Milan.