Fonseca: ‘Milan stopped playing, but no problem with Theo and Leao’

Paulo Fonseca tried to dampen down the controversy over Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez steering clear of his team talk, but slammed Milan for their 2-2 draw with Lazio. ‘We just stopped playing.’

The coach took a huge gamble and a bold stance when dropping Rafael Leao, Theo Hernandez and captain Davide Calabria to the bench at the Stadio Olimpico after one point from the opening two games.

It paid off to begin with, as Strahinja Pavlovic had given them the lead, but when Taty Castellanos and Boulaye Dia turned the game around within four minutes, he had to bring on his star men.

They made an immediate impact, as within 30 seconds Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham had combined to set up the Rafael Leao equaliser.

What will no doubt cause a great deal of controversy is that moments after that goal, there was a cooling break with everyone gathering around Fonseca to hear his instructions – all except for Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, who stood on the other side of the pitch.

“There is no problem. I think Theo already explained to the media after the game. We must not try to create problems, because this week I spoke to the players, explained my decisions, they accepted it and were always with the team. I was honestly not even looking at them being there, I concentrated on other things,” Fonseca told DAZN.

“They had only come on two minutes earlier, so did not need a cooling break. It’s not a problem, they gave a good reaction when coming on. I do not hide behind excuses, when we have a problem, I am the first to admit it, but the truth is there is nothing.”

Fonseca critical of Milan attitude after break
Curiously, both Lazio goals were essentially identical from Nuno Tavares assists from the left flank and came during a period of pressure from the Aquile.