Football – Serie A – Savior Olivier Giroud proves to Milan that he is more than a Zlatan Ibrahimovic understudy

“He is ready”. In the pre-match press conference, Stefano Pioli did not think so well when declaring that Olivier Giroud would hold the keys to the tip of his attack to compete in the Milan derby which promised to be hot. Taking advantage of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Achilles tendon injury, the French international had his very first match against Inter Milan since arriving in Lombardy. And the least we can say is that he rose to the challenge brilliantly.

“That Zlatan is missing is disappointing. We have made a lot of progress with him, but we have to show that we are strong without him as well”. The words of the Italian tactician were apparently well heard by Olivier Giroud, who rose to the occasion. However, nothing started as planned for the Rossoneri and their top striker. After a duel lost against Stefan De Vrij (7th) and a goal denied to Denzel Dumfries for a slight offside position (10th), Mike Maignan had to work too many times (11th, 13th, 26th, 28e) to allow his formation not to chase after the score.

A beautiful fright and vain efforts

Dominated and cornered by the strike force of the leaders of Serie A, AC Milan has long been unable to be dangerous. Weaned from the ball, Olivier Giroud even had a good scare: hit in the knee during a bad reception, the 2018 world champion had to consult his medical staff to be sure he could keep his place. But more fear than harm for the great 35-year-old striker, who did not hesitate to raise his voice following a vulgar marking foul on Ivan Perisic offering the opener to Inter Milan ( 1-0, 39th).

Frustrated at being so underserved on the lawn of a half-full San Siro stadium, Covid obliges, Olivier Giroud chomped at the bit, chaining calls… until his exemplarity was rewarded. “I was a little frustrated in the first half, like the whole team, because we hadn’t played very well. I was hoping to have one or two balls in the box.“, he said at the end of the meeting, for the expected result.

Opportunistic, it was he who managed to slip the tip of his foot to take a missed shot from Brahim Diaz at the far post, and put AC Milan back up (1-1, 75th). Enough to justify Stefano Pioli’s statement on the eve of this shock of the 24th day: “Giroud is an intelligent and complete footballer, he knows how to connect to the game but above all he knows how to occupy the surface perfectly”.

The Hero of San Siro

Completely galvanized by this equalizer, the Rossoneri immediately returned to the offensive. And four short minutes later, the miracle happened: served by Davide Calabria in his usual pivot position, Olivier Giroud eliminated Stefan De Vrij before firing a powerful shot from the left leaving Samir Handanovic on his heels (2-1 , 79th). After a half-hearted first game of the championship due to a recurring back injury and his competition with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (14 matches, including only 8 as a starter), Giroud found this Saturday what makes him a footballer so special: he became the hero again the hero of San Siro.

His performance, as realistic as it is deserved, allows AC Milan to relaunch completely in the battle for the Scudetto, bringing the Rossoneri to a small point of their victim of the evening. “A derby is a match that is won, we are back in the race”, simply concluded the number 9 of Milan. And to remember this evening which will remain engraved with a red iron, Olivier Giroud took advantage of the ovation of his tifosi for long minutes, in this San Siro stadium where the ex-Chelsea striker is more and more pleased, and where he scored his eight goals of the season (seven in Serie A, one in the Italian Cup).