Milan, Leao and Theo are a case: they enter, but do not participate in the cooling break

An image sums up the crazy week of Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leao. There is the cooling break of the second half, all the Lazio and Milan players are around their coaches but Theo and Rafa are not: they stay on the other side of the pitch, drink and watch from afar. Simple interpretation: they dissociate themselves from Fonseca. From memory, a scene never seen before. Controversy? Well, yes, although it is right to report the sentences of Theo Hernandez and Fonseca in the immediate post-match. Theo: “We had been on the pitch for two minutes, we didn’t need the cooling break. It was nothing against the team and the coach. Now we have to continue working to win all together”. And again: “We had been on the pitch for two minutes. We didn’t need it. Then people talk, they say things that aren’t true. Rafa and I are always with the team to help, and that’s what’s important”. And then Fonseca: “There is no problem and I think Theo has already explained. We must not create any problems, this week I spoke with the players who accepted the choice. The response from the players was good and we must not create problems when they are not there. I do not run away with excuses and at this moment there is no problem”.

WHAT HAPPENED

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The climate on Fonseca’s Milan is already tense, very tense, and to understand it we need to reconstruct the last week. Last Saturday: Theo and Leao play badly, very badly in the defeat in Parma. Without a doubt, the two worst. What is especially striking is the lack of application, with Theo at limited, very limited speed, responsible for the two goals by Man and Cancellieri. A few days pass. Thursday: Fonseca tries the formation with Terracciano and Pulisic on the left. Yesterday, Friday, it is clear: Theo and Leao will not play from the first minute.

GOALS IN A MINUTE

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What happened at the Olimpico, for this reason, is making noise. Theo and Leao were always at the center of the day, even when they were not in the cameras’ frame. Milan without them played a good first half: in difficulty at the beginning but then attentive, with teamwork that made many think “well, Fonseca was right”. In the second half, however, Milan went under, conceded two goals in five minutes and Fonseca pushed the button for plan B. In came Leao and Theo, with Musah and Abraham. A minute or so later, and Rafa scored the 2-2, also built with Theo. He didn’t celebrate – that’s normal – and immediately afterwards, in the 73rd minute, he and Theo went to the other side of the pitch to talk to each other during the cooling break. Far from the team and the coach, who were experiencing the cooling break together.

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

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Obviously, it is not a coincidence. The post-match words will serve to defuse the situation, but the scene suggests a tense relationship with the coach. Theo Hernandez is the vice-captain of this team, Leao is the number 10 and the symbol of the new Milan era, the image man, the highest paid player. The team revolves around them. Even Massimo Ambrosini, former captain of Milan, gave a clear comment on TV: “The image of the cooling break is not nice to see. It is the sign of a malaise, something not nice to see or justify”. In the end, one might think that who knows, perhaps even the action of 2-2 – angry – was born from the desire to prove something. And now? These will be the hours of comments and positions, of diplomacy. For sure, Milan’s season, for better or for worse, will depend on the next few days, on the post-Olimpico.