Lucas Paqueta explains why he flopped at Milan
Lucas Paqueta has managed to relaunch his career at Lyon after the disappointing adventure with AC Milan in Serie A.
One of AC Milan’s biggest flops in recent years has certainly been Lucas Paqueta. After the first promising impact, the Rossoneri thought they had acquired a future champion but then things did not turn out well.
In the second season with AC Milan the former Flamengo encountered many difficulties. With both Marco Giampaolo and Stefano Pioli he was unable to express his talent after the good performances under Gennaro Gattuso. Paqueta’s sale was inevitable with Lyon investing 20 million euros after the Rossoneri had spent 38 in January 2019.
Lucas Paqueta in an interview with Canal Football Club on Canal + explained that he has found back his smile at Lyon. The midfielder is now in a more serene environment and has better relations with his teammates: “I am happier at Lyon. However, my experience at Milan made me a better player but here I made friends that I didn’t have at Milan. This makes a difference, because this is the Brazilian way of being. This is Paqueta. And I’m happy to be in France and to do a good job, I hope to continue like this for many years”.
The Brazilian midfielder is a regular starter in Rudi Garcia’s team and has scored 4 goals and assisted 2 in 24 appearances this season. Ligue 1 is proving to be a championship more suited to his characteristics and the French team appears to be the right club for him.
At Milan, however, he was no longer central to the project. Paqueta also explained what went wrong in Italy: “When I struggled, I put myself under pressure. Sometimes I looked at whoever was talking about me outside the locker room. I ended up taking everything personal. I felt that I had to score more and be more decisive. In the end this confused me a bit. However, it was a learning experience and now I feel freer. What is said about me does not affect me, I know how to behave“.
The Brazil international admits that in Italy he suffered a little from negative judgments and did not know how to deal with it in the best possible way. This apparently conditioned the player on the pitch. Thankfully, Lucas has been able to relaunch his career in France and become a key player for Lyon.
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