Rafael Leao slotted home a sensational acrobatic kick to fire 10-man Milan to a nerve-shredding 2-1 win at Roma on Friday night. The Rossoneri No10 found a fitting way to mark his breakthrough with the new shirt number.
Milan broke the deadlock within the opening ten minutes through the evergreen striker Olivier Giroud. After converting two penalties in a 4-1 thumping of Torino, the Frenchman scored from the spot again, meaning he has now netted in six consecutive Serie A appearances.
However, Leao stole the spotlight at the start of the second half. The quicksilver forward failed to find the net in the first two league games. Yet, his maiden strike was a piece of art, as he met Davide Calabria’s cross with a bicycle kick to put clear daylight between the sides.
Fikayo Tomori’s expulsion made things complicated for Milan down the final stretch. Roma pulled one back through Leonardo Spinazzola’s stoppage-time goal. But Stefano Pioli’s weathered the storm to maintain a 100% three-game Serie A start.
Leao talked to the press in the aftermath, confessing he was trying to score a goal like this for three years.
“It is a goal I’ve been trying to score for three years and I finally got it,” he told Sky Sport Italia, as relayed by Tuttomercatoweb. “However, the best thing was to get the win here, because it is always tough against Roma and these are three important points to stay top of the table.”
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