Martinez heaps praise on ‘one of he best in the world’ Leao | OneFootball

Portugal national team head coach Roberto Martinez was full of praise for Milan star Rafael Leao after his goalscoring display in Friday evening’s 5-1 thrashing of Poland, labelling the Rossoneri winger: ‘one of the best in the world one-on-one’.

Leao kickstarted an onslaught of second-half goals, netting Portugal’s first just shy of the hour mark, before a Cristiano Ronaldo double, and individual efforts from Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto and Poland’s Dominik Marczuk.

The Milan winger, who travelled effectively the length of the pitch before converting his effort, was given an average rating of 8.5/10 for his performance, with some outlets going as high as 9/10.

Martinez heaps praise on Leao: ‘One of the world’s best at exploiting space’

Speaking to the press at full-time, Martinez had nothing but good things to say about the Milan star’s outing.

“All the great players are scrutinised. Rafael Leao grew a lot at the EUROs, he had a great match against France and I think this game was the one that he’s grown the most,” he said, reported via Milannews.it.

“Today he showed who he is, one of the best players in the world one-on-one and when it comes to exploiting spaces.

“There are not many players in the world who could create that opportunity for the first goal.”

Leao and his Portugal teammates will next be in action away against Croatia on Monday evening in the final round of Nations League group stage fixtures.