Tribal Football

Capello slams AC Milan attackers; impressed by Feyenoord matchwinner Paixao

Carlos Volcano
Capello slams AC Milan attackers; impressed by Feyenoord matchwinner Paixao
Capello slams AC Milan attackers; impressed by Feyenoord matchwinner PaixaoAction Plus
Former AC Milan coach Fabio Capello says their attacking players were shown up at Feyenoord last night.

Feyenoord won the first-leg of their Champions League round 16 playoff 1-0 courtesy of an early goal from Igor Paixao.

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Capello, on Rafael Leao, said this morning: "Perhaps he's the only one who tried to do something concrete, but even on the rare occasions when he managed to overcome an opponent, he always made the wrong choice, the wrong touch or the wrong cross, not making an impact in the end."

Then on Joao Felix, he continued: "The same thing goes for him as for (Christian) Pulisic. If players with great quality but a bit light are forced to chase the ball more than play it, then they suffer. In particular, Pulisic also struggled in his comebacks, causing difficulties for (Youssouf) Fofana, (Tijjani) Reijnders and especially (Kyle) Walker, who often found himself up against two men, one of whom was always the talented Paixao."

Capello also said: "At San Siro I expect a very different performance, but we will need to be very careful of the Dutch counterattack. And in particular of that Igor Paixao, who put a veteran like Walker in serious difficulty, who in the end even got out of it, because he has experience and intelligence.

"Of all the offensive players on the pitch at De Kuip, the Brazilian from Feyenoord was certainly the most brilliant."