Giroud and Leao, monopolists of Milan goals: no couple weighs as much as they do

It is written GOL, it is read Giroud-O-Leao. Together with marking the result or alternating, once on 9 and once on 17, little changes: what does not change is that the attacking couple scores and affects more than all the other couples. In Italy and in Europe. That’s why for Pioli, finding Olivier and Rafa together in Empoli tomorrow night is great news: the Devil will also be crippled behind – and the absences will weigh, given that Maignan and Theo have not yet been cloned – but the goal twins will hug again later. a shift of forced separation. Vicar and who will have to protect him are warned.

Unique

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In the last 5 matches of Serie A, Milan have scored 8 goals. Messias, with that left that unlocked the result at Sampdoria, has all the air of being posted at the party, because the rest is the work of Leao and Giroud: together they have recorded 87% of the AC Milan goals. Between A, Premier, Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 there is practically nothing similar, at least not at the top of the rankings. Lautaro and Dzeko, a de facto Inter couple awaiting the return of Lukaku, “weigh” little or nothing (3 goals out of 8, 37%); the same goes for Kvaratskhelia and Raspadori in Napoli (2 goals out of 6, 33%).

And even those who affect more, like Dybala and Abraham at Roma or Milik and Vlahovic at Juve, still do it less than Leao-Giroud: the two Giallorossi are 83%, the Bianconeri 67%. Atalanta leaders (together with Napoli) have the least prolific couple: a goal blossomed from the feet of Hojlund and Lookman, compared to another 7 scored by their teammates. Abroad there are those who travel on the same figures as Rafa and Oly but without influencing them as they do: Benzema and Vinicius at Real have made 7 out of 15. Lower percentages also for those who have scored more: at City Haaland and Foden, 10 networks out of 17, account for 59%; at Barça Lewandowski and Dembélé, 10 goals out of 18, for 56%.

Understanding

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Against Napoli, before the break, the couple had been divided by the sports judge, but whoever was on the pitch had done their job anyway: Giroud had signed the 1-1 under the eyes of Leao, in the stands due to disqualification. For Milan it was not enough to achieve a result, because when those two move together it’s a completely different story: with Oly and Rafa on the pitch, the points average rises to 2.38, higher than that of the Scudetto (2.26). . In 32 shared Serie A matches, 7 goals were born from the dialogue between the center-forward and the left winger: according to the script, Leao is the one who tears and serves balls in the area, Giroud is the one who throws them in. The Oscar-winning movie? In Sassuolo, on the day of the Scudetto, a scene repeated twice in a few minutes. Then there are the improvisations, just as spectacular, as in the last derby: first Rafa triggers the turn of the 9, then Olivier returns with the bank that sends in the goal on the 17.

The strange couple

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The two meet and exalt each other like few others, yet the assembly was born almost by chance: a year ago, on paper, Leao was still a champion promise, as talented as it is inconstant, and therefore in a runoff with Rebic; Giroud had landed at Milanello as Ibra’s deputy, after a season on the sidelines in Chelsea. The couple changed the plot of history along the way and today Milan enjoys two strikers who run arm in arm: top scorers of the Scudetto with 11 goals each and Rossoneri top scorers also in this championship, 4 Giroud goals and 3 Leao. Different in everything or almost, because the generations to which they belong are different: Rafa, 23, in his free time divides himself between trap music and fashion (a record engraved with the stage name Way 45 and a clothing line of his own, Son is Son); Giroud, who turns 36 today, enjoys family – his wife Jen and four children Jade, Aria, Aaron and Evan – and loves to travel. When Milan hired them he made a bargain: Leao was paid 28 million and today is worth 150, Giroud cost just one million. The Frenchman’s contract expires in 8 months, but there is no rush: after the World Cup Oly and Milan will start talking about a renewal that seems obvious. For Rafa there would be time until 2024, but the picture is much more complicated. That’s why the wish, at the Rossoneri’s home, is that the twins of the goal go forward together: to score, and maybe even to sign new contracts.