Why Matteo Gabbia did not let teammate Rafael Leao celebrate by preventing AC Milan winger from pulling his shirt off

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Matteo Gabbia prevents Leao from pulling off shirt AC Milan center back Matteo Gabbia prevents teammate Rafael Leao from pulling off shirt. (AP)

In one of the funniest incidents of the season, AC Milan center back Matteo Gabbia made a huge intervention in the match vs Fiorentina. But on his own striker Rafael Leao. After scoring a last-minute penalty, Leao started to celebrate by trying to take his shirt off only for Gabbia to intervene as he grabbed the back of the winger’s jersey with two hands and forced it back on.

This was because if Leao had pulled off his jersey, he would have been shown a yellow card, a rule which comes into effect whenever players take off their shirts to celebrate.

Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike had run afoul of that rule last month when he was shown a red card for taking off his shirt while celebrating in an English League Cup match against Southampton. The Frenchman was already on a yellow card when he had second goal of the match in the 85th minute which gave Liverpool a 2-1 lead. More importantly for Liverpool, Ekitike was also suspended for the next match against Crystal Palace which the Reds went on to lose.

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I am crying man, they didn’t allow Rafael Leao to take off his shirt 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/kjRa1nAYx5

— 𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐯 (@heis_fede) October 20, 2025

In the Serie A match on Sunday, Leao, the Portugal winger scored twice in his first start of league following an injury layoff and under-strength AC Milan came from a goal down to beat Stefano Pioli’s Fiorentina 2-1 and move back atop the Italian league.

Leao was the Serie A player of the season when Milan won the Italian title under Pioli in 2021-22 but hasn’t performed anywhere near that level since then. But with Christian Pulisic, Adrien Rabiot and Christopher Nkunku all out injured, Milan needed Leão to step up.

After Robin Gosens put Fiorentina ahead from close range shortly before the hour mark, Leão quickly equalized with a long, low shot. Then he stepped up to the penalty spot for the first time in his Milan career and converted from the spot following a foul on Santiago Gimenez.

(With agency inputs)

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