Liverpool need to fear AC Milan midfielder instead of 'inconsistent' Rafael Leao say Italian media

AC Milan star Rafael Leao isn’t the star Liverpool fans should worry about for their Champions League clash, says the Italian media.

The Reds travel to the San Siro following a disappointing home defeat to Nottingham Forest after previously winning their first three league games under Arne Slot. On the contrary, Milan have started the season in mixed form, drawing twice and losing to Parma before they bounced back with a much-needed 4-0 win over Venezia on home turf on Saturday evening.

Gazzetto dello Sport’s Chief AC Milan writer Luca Bianchin, relayed that Leao isn’t the danger man for tonight’s game. Despite the team featuring plenty of recognisable quality including Theo Hernandez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor and Christian Pulisic - Bianchin singled out another player who is the one to watch for Liverpool fans. “I would say Tijjani Reijnders as a number ten.” He revealed.

“He wasn't probably, for sure, the best man on the pitch [against Venezia], but for today's game, he's the key player because AC Milan started to play him as a number ten instead of Mediano, as we say. He is typically a central midfielder and he showed he can play there and he can be useful for the team. He also scored a couple of goals with the national team, with the Dutch national team in the break. With Reijnders as the number ten, AC Milan can play a better football, be a little bit more balanced. That's something important for this team that conceded so many goals in the first month.”

The Dutch midfielder was set up by Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch in the recent international break for the opening goal in the 2-2 draw with Germany. Typically, he plays deeper but certainly poses a threat with his dribbling and creative qualities; he ranked in the elite percentiles for shot-creating actions (92nd) progressive passes (92nd) and carries (91st) in the Champions League last season and will be a key figure.

While fans will still fear the Portuguese winger who began the season with three assists and one goal in four games, Bianchin claims he can go missing - and be ‘world class’ for short spells but then absent for long periods of the game. “You never know what is going to happen with Rafa. He can be the best player in the world for like ten minutes and then you don't see him for half an hour. He's not consistent. I always say that if we talk, about potential, he's the best player in Italy.”

While some may believe that Milan should feel confident heading into the game after the Forest defeat, it is quite the opposite for the Italian fans. “AC Milan fans are now more worried because they know that a team like Liverpool needs to react,” he claimed.

“They will play at full speed from the first minutes just to impress their fans and recover from that loss. So it's a paradox, but I would say it's worse for AC Milan. We know that Liverpool are a great team, you know, a lot of great players. It's impressive for the Italian level of football to see Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez on the bench. So there's a difference between the two teams. I think Liverpool are a better team at the moment .I see Milan will play and try to win this game because the San Siro is always useful during Champions League nights.”