Tuttosport: Okafor challenging Leao for a starting spot against Napoli | OneFootball

With the game against Bologna postponed, AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca can start preparing for the game against Napoli on Tuesday night.

As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes, Fonseca will have to do without Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders who – given the postponement of today’s game – will have to serve their suspension against Napoli instead.

The Portuguese coach will have few training sessions to choose the replacements for the French full-back (Davide Calabria and Filippo Terracciano battling) and the Dutch midfielder (one of either Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Yunus Musah).

However, there is another issue: what to do with Rafael Leao? Will Fonseca give him a starting spot back, or bench him to let Noah Okafor play in his place? At the moment it seems more likely that Leao will play, given the magnitude of the game.

In addition to that, there is a concern that benching the former Lille star for such a big game could ‘psychologically break’ Rafa even more. Fonseca and Milan cannot afford this because, like it or not, without the real Leao it will be really difficult for the Rossoneri to compete for trophies.

Completing the Rossoneri attack will be Samuel Chukwueze on the right wing, while Christian Pulisic will act as an attacking midfielder behind Alvaro Morata. The conditions of Tammy Abraham and Luka Jovic will be evaluated in the coming days.