Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has avoided shifting defensive duties to right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold in their Champions League opener away at AC Milan (September 17) because his opponent in that position is winger Rafael Leao, and he sees the Rossoneri as a dangerous team.
Leo has been in impressive form since the start of the 2024-25 season, scoring once and providing three assists in Serie A as head coach Paulo Fonseca’s side eased to a 4-0 win over Verona at the weekend.
This event inevitably caused a headache for ‘TAA’ because they usually have weak defense. Now they are faced with a winger with all sorts of poisons and a fresh form. The chances of getting burned are very high.
However, the 45-year-old coach does not just shift the responsibility to the vice-captain, seeing it as a shared responsibility for the whole team. Moreover, the Rossoneri have many troublemakers, not just the Portuguese star.
“He’s a top player because people like to talk about the big players. They don’t talk about the unsung heroes,” Slot said at the pre-match press conference at San Siro.
“We know the quality of that guy, we studied the whole Milan team. Of course one of the people who caught our eye was Rafael Leo.”
“How do you find a way to stop that guy in his golden form? It’s really all about the team’s performance.”
“We need to defend well as a team to stop players like Rafael Leao. But Milan have more quality than that. It’s the quality of the team.”
“In my personal opinion, Promotion Ufabet he is definitely one of the best.”