The Serie A Team of the Season was announced at the annual Italian PFA Awards, with Rafael Leao, Dusan Vlahovic, Ciro Immobile and Nicolò Barella all included. Milan winger Rafael Leao picked up the Player of the Season and made a point of praising his coach: “It is thanks to Stefano Pioli I became an important player.”
The annual Gran Gala del Calcio, was held in in Milan and saw the stars of Italian football and their families in attendance.
Last seasons Scudetto winners Milan dominated the awards with Stefano Pioli picking up the Coach of the Year award.
The ideal Serie A XI was a 4-3-3 formation that included a large contingent of Rossoneri players: Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao.
Rafael Leao picked up the Player of the Season award and thanked his family and teammates:
I want to thank my parents, it was my dream to win a trophy in front of them, I am very happy,” said the Portugal international, who today was also named 14th in the Ballon d’Or rankings.
When I came here, I was still a child basically, perhaps I didn’t understand quite how big Milan were and I didn’t know how to behave like a grown-up, but Pioli was very important for me, he made me become an important player.
I have to thank everyone who work with him now that I am a man. The best thing was seeing all the fans in the streets celebrating the Scudetto, all of Milan was red and black.”
Federico Gatti picked up the Serie B Player of the Season for his time at Frosinone, while Daniele Orsato was Referee of the Season.
Serie A Team of the Season:
Maignan (Milan); Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Tomori (Milan), Bremer (Torino/Juventus), Theo Hernandez (Milan); Barella (Inter), Brozovic (Inter), Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio); Vlahovic (Fiorentina/Juventus), Immobile (Lazio), Rafael Leao (Milan)
[Image from Juventus.com]
