GdS: ‘The reborn’ – resurgent ‘Theao’ aiming to inspire Milan again

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·8 de enero de 2025

GdS: ‘The reborn’ – resurgent ‘Theao’ aiming to inspire Milan again

AC Milan were powered to victory in the Supercoppa Italiana by their left-sided duo of Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, a promising sign for the future.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, Sergio Conceicao took over at Milan on December 30 and eight days later he lifted the Super Cup to the sky. Above all, he worked on a squad that was full of doubts, and that especially concerns the star players.

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A change in approach

The paper points out how Paulo Fonseca took a different approach with Leao and Theo, benching the winger first and then the full-back. It seemed to work with the Portuguese, but not with the Frenchman.

Conceicao came in and gave everyone a clean slate, including ‘Theao’ which returned to its best in Saudi Arabia, and which will have to resume imposing itself in Italy in the race for the Champions League places, and in the European competition too.

With a left side like this, no target is written off. In the final against Inter we saw it: Leao came on and instantly won a free-kick from which Theo scored to halve the deficit. For the equaliser Leao sent Theo away down the left, who assisted Pulisic. Then, right at the end, Rafa squared to Tammy Abraham.

High praise

It’s no coincidence that everyone is crazy about Leao. In Portugal the newspaper A Bola talks about a Milan ‘beyond epic thanks to Rafa’s magic’. Conceiçao had defined him as ‘phenomenal’ after the match, predicting a future for him as ‘number one in the world’, provided he ‘fixes two or three things’.

Antonio Cassano is not convinced, once again criticising Leao which drew a response from the former Lille man on social media. However, history shows us that Rafa continues to be the protagonist of Milan’s big moments.

In addition to his devastating performance on Monday night, he was the MVP in the 2021-22 Scudetto victory, he helped Milan to the Champions League semi-finals and contributed this season in games like the win over Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, after the celebrations on and off the pitch, Rafa returned home and celebrated with his twins Leonardo and Thiago as he showed again on Instagram.

The celebration

There is also harmony on this: Hernandez dedicated Monday’s victory to little Theo junior and the little girl on the way. Theo was among the wildest, both on the pitch and in the dressing room dancing after the victory.

In the match we finally saw him in full flow, apart from question marks during the first goal conceded. A resurgent Theo is a resource that can shift the balance: his push could be decisive in the fast lane, be it the league or Europe.

After the game he called the fans to raise their hands in celebration, in the dressing room he was the first to ask for the Conceiçao-dance, taking care of the music himself. In a social photo he poses with his right leg on the Super Cup and an emoticon with his finger on his mouth, saying ‘be quiet’.

The day before on TV he had spoken about a difficult personal moment that was now behind him. Looking to the future then we have to ask ourselves what will happen with the contract expiring in the summer of 2026, and now the idea of him staying certainly doesn’t seem more unlikely.