There is something in Leonardo's public image that, after a defeat, makes critics and even his admirers wonder if he has the steel in him to inspire an immediate recovery.
It is a spin-off from the urbane and civil way the Inter Milan manager projects himself, the fact he comes across so thoughtful and analytical.
"Too sensitive to be a ruthless manager," is one of football's old cliches, and Leonardo may find it mildly insulting, but after Saturday's emphatic setback in the Milan derby, he will be aware the notion is floating around in the build-up to tonight's Champions League quarter-final against Schalke 04.
The 3-0 loss to AC Milan left Inter five points behind the Serie A leaders with seven matches of the league campaign to go, and much closer to the reality that, for the first time in six seasons, the nerazzurri will not be crowned Italian champions.
It left a stain on Leonardo's personal ledger as head coach, too. He has overseen three Milan derbies and has lost all of them, the first two while coaching AC Milan last season.
Gazzetta dello Sport brusquely reminded him yesterday that only one Inter head coach of recent seasons had a comparable personal record in derbies and that at least he, Hector Cuper, had won in one of his four league meetings with AC Milan as Inter head coach.
Recall of the Cuper era — which lasted just over two seasons until late 2003 — is to delve into the phase when Inter's capacity to choke in the big games, to "bottle it" when faced with the possibility of clinching a prize was legendary and apparently congenital, when Inter were to Serie A and European competitions what the South African cricket team are to 50-over World Cups.
The Inter of Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho would shake off that tag, but the Inter of the last 10 months, with their two changes of head coach have developed some symptoms of the neurotic club they became between the mid-1990s and 2006.
On Saturday at San Siro, Leonardo's team were ambushed, what with Alexandre Pato's first goal for Milan arriving within the first minute. The move that led to it found the Inter defence ill-prepared for Robinho's clever run and the midfield lacking resolution to stymie the probing exchanges between Clarence Seedorf and Rino Gattuso which paved the way.
Leonardo had an alibi here, as Arrigo Sacchi, the former Milan head coach pointed out in his role as a pundit.
"The match was won by Milan in the week ahead of the game," Sacchi said, "because while Milan could practice with most of their players for those days, Leonardo was missing so many because of international call ups."
The argument is valid. Robinho did not get called up by Brazil, Pato withdrew from Brazil's squad with an ankle problem for which there was little sign at the weekend; the impressive Kevin-Prince Boateng and Mark Van Bommel had likewise ducked out of Ghana's and Holland's matches, while Seedorf and Gattuso are no longer active internationals.
That sextet all started for Milan, while Leonardo's front five - Wesley Sneijder, Thiago Motta, Giampaolo Pazzini, Samuel Eto'o and Goran Pandev - had just returned from double headers with their national teams.
None of Eto'o, Pandev nor Sneijder will hand over gladly the Champions League, for all that the precedents say it is the hardest of club football's major prizes to retain. The "bouncebackability" - a term invented by the British coach Iain Dowie a few years back - of Leonardo is also under examination.
And, nice fellow though he may be, he can point out that he has already led Inter to victory in Munich over Bayern after defeat in the first leg, and that although his short reign does now include too many defeats against the "big" clubs - Bayern at home, Milan and Juventus away - they usually follow up with a win in their next outing.
