Shining Olivier Giroud nets twice in 3 minutes to snatch an important win for AC Milan over rivals

This Saturday AC Milan resurrected intrigue in Italy! In the match of the Italian Serie A 24th tour, Olivier Giroud turned the derby around in 3 minutes in Ibrahimovic style and became the hero, while Inter squandered a win and a great chance to put the rival away. The meeting at the San Siro stadium ended 2-1 in favour of Stefano Pioli’s side.

This was a key match for Milan in terms of their fight for the Scudetto. The Rossoneri were four points behind leader Inter before this meeting, and the Nerazzurri had a game in hand. Having lost the derby, Stefano Pioli‘s team would have given the principle opponent too much of a handicap – you could say carte blanche, as Inter had lost only once in 22 games before – a six-point difference and having one game in hand on such trends looks daunting. 

Milan approached the match in a very weakened version, with many key players missing and some just recovering from injuries. It seemed that without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Red and Blacks would be doomed, as the 40-year-old Swede was out again due to an Achilles problem. But the Milan derby got an unexpected hero – 35-year-old Olivier Giroud. He has not scored much this season (5 goals), but in a match between bitter enemies he produced a heroic performance.

Simone Inzaghi’s team got off to a brisk start: Inter locked the opposition in their half and created some very dangerous chances. It seemed that Ivan Perisic and Denzel Dumfries had the most touches on the ball for Inter. The Nerazzurri coach focused on attacking down the flanks and the Croatian and the Dutchman well ‘fed’ their opponents Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez respectively. In addition, the league leader was very effective in the middle of the pitch, with the rebounds and interceptions resulting in a dangerous counterattacks. 

The Devils tried to control the ball at first, but Inter’s advantage was becoming more and more evident with every minute. By the break, the nominal hosts of the pitch (by the way, the San Siro lawn, criticized by everyone, was re-laid for €500.000) managed to outclass the visitors in shots – 9:3, 5:1 on target.

As early as the 10th minute, Inter scored, but the goal was cancelled out due to offside. Then, the Rossoneri goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who joined the club this summer, made a number of saves. But in the 38th minute, Ivan Perisic put Inter ahead following a corner kick. The players made a fuss in the 11-metre mark zone, and the Croatian was left unguarded and in a good position to shoot, Alexis Saelemaekers seems to have missed him. The ex-Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu made an assist.

In the second half, the game changed: Inter became more cautious and AC Milan, on the contrary, more aggressive. That’s when Giroud, who had been silent until then, burst out; it seemed as if he was just saving his energy.

75th minute: Olivier fouled in the centre of the pitch taking the ball from former teammate Alexis Sanchez – and after 9 seconds he was in the opponent’s penalty area and literally tapped in the ball into the net.

78th minute: The Frenchman received a pass in the penalty area, deftly rounded centre-back Stefan de Vrij with a sharp turn and sent the ball into the far left corner. Damir Handanovic reached, but couldn’t deflect it. A classy goal. The scoreline went from 1-0 to 1-2 just thanks to the magic of Giroud. Lovely comeback.

‘I was a bit frustrated in the first half, like the whole team, because we didn’t play well and we knew that. The road is still long. We are in the race, but there are a lot of games left to play and Inter remain on top.’

Giroud told after the match.

Inter came up with nothing in return – by then Simone Inzaghi had already replaced Lautaro Martinez, Ivan Perisic and Hakan Çalhanoglu, the team’s main attacking force. Without them, the team’s attacking performance was less interesting. 

It didn’t help that Theo Hernandez, shortly before the final whistle, was given a red card for blatant disruption in midfield – the Frenchman just seemed to have lost his temper as he and his teammates were unable to get the ball away from Dumfries.

On the latter, goalkeeper Handanovic came into the Milan penalty area and even won the first touch. However, the Rossoneri persevered and held on for the win, with Pioli making a dash for Giroud after the final whistle to embrace the derby hero warmly. 

Thus, Milan remains the main rival to Inter in the fight for the Scudetto. Inter, on the other hand, have a very tough schedule ahead of them, playing Roma in the Italian Cup, Napoli in the league and Liverpool in the Champions League in a week’s time. 

After the match, Simeone Inzaghi said his team were simply unlucky: 

“We dominated on all counts, but we were not sharp when completing our attacks. “Milan were lucky with the first goal and they played smart with the second.”

“I saw a derby in which the game went one way for 60 minutes. The guys got angry after the scoreline was tied because there was probably a foul on Alexis Sanchez and we lost our concentration. In the last 25 minutes we weren’t as sharp and didn’t control the ball, the game was more open to individual displays. We know it’s a painful defeat, but strong teams should be able to analyse their mistakes.”

“If we had played this match 10 more times, we would have lost once, maybe. We all know how important the derby is, we didn’t deserve to lose, but that’s football. Up until the point when the score was tied, we didn’t allow Milan almost anything. It’s a hard lesson, but a valuable one for us to be more determined to bring the game to victory so we don’t find ourselves in that situation again.”

The Italian specialist shared.

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• This leaves Inter (53 points) at the top of the table with one game in hand, while main rival AC Milan (52) are in second place.

• AC Milan’s last big trophy was the Serie A title in 2010-11. Stefano Pioli is the eighth manager since then.