Milan, from the derby to Turin: Giroud’s heavy goals

The head to the crisis comes from the man of heavy goals. Against Turin, Olivier Giroud turned on the light in the most complicated moment of Milan’s season: Stefano Pioli thanked him (“he IS a leader”) and the Rossoneri restarted from the three points. Again, thanks to the French.

The circle closes

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Some numbers. At 36, Giroud is the oldest player involved in more than 10 goals this season in the five major European leagues (7 goals and 4 assists): with 11 goals, between Serie A and the Champions League, he is so far the top scorer in Pioli’s team . Since his arrival in Milan, goals that are worth points are a constant. From Turin to Turin, with San Siro in the background, the decisive goal against the grenades for the Rossoneri 9 is nothing new: before Friday’s gore, Giroud had knocked out the Bull with another winning flick. It was October 26, 2021: a corner by Tonali, a spit by Krunic and a touch a stone’s throw from the line.

Scudetto derby

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The double Scudetto remains engraved in the memory of the fans. A little over a year ago, on February 5, 2022, Olivier signed the comeback against Inter by overturning the derby with two goals fifteen minutes from the end. Sliding doors, Giroud method. “God helped me to believe in it until the very end, to score the first goal and try the shot I managed on the second”, he says in his biography “Believe it, always”.

Reggio Emilia

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After Inter, Napoli. On March 6, Olivier resolved the head-to-head with Spalletti’s team with another scratch from him in the big match at Maradona. The author’s signatures in series on the nineteenth shield are his. With the goal scored at the Olimpico against Lazio on 24 April, Milan kept hope alive before Tonali’s 3-point goal at the end. And in Reggio Emilia, on 22 May last, on the last day of the championship, Sassuolo knocked out Sassuolo by conceding another encore to thwart Inter’s dreams of overtaking at the photo finish, staged at the same time as Sampdoria, at San Siro. The party goes to him.

Restart

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The new season starts again riding on enthusiasm. In the first months with the Scudetto on their chest, Milan clings to their 9 in every sense. With Ibra in the pits due to injury, Giroud is the only point of reference in attack, the irreplaceable one who always keeps the Devil afloat even with difficulty. He scores again in the derby won 3-2 in September and against Spezia in November, a stunt in full recovery is worth a victory at the end which postpones Spalletti’s Napoli escape. In between, another goal in the direct clash with the Neapolitans (this time useless for the result, with Milan falling 2-1 at San Siro) and with Sampdoria. At Marassi, twenty minutes from the end, he ices a match complicated by Leao’s expulsion from the penalty spot.

After the World Cup

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The World Cup in Qatar, lived as a protagonist, gives some satisfaction but takes away the glaze. At 36, Olivier gives his contribution to France towards the final with 4 goals in 7 games: he becomes the national team’s number one bomber (53 goals) and overtakes Henry, but the defeat in the last act against Argentina (joined with a perhaps unfair substitution in the 41st minute, with Les Bleus down by two goals) weighs a ton. His brilliance is sucked up by Lusail Stadium, together with the sparks that in 2022 had given the Devil the great shot. Before the header against the grenade, the only flash of the new year comes in the collapse of the San Siro against Sassuolo, a couple of weeks ago. An illusory network, distant in specific weight from the old frames: “We have to do more”. While waiting for Tottenham, Milan and Giroud have restarted from Toro.