Olivier Giroud bust the Serie A title race wide open on Saturday with a quick-fire derby brace in a 2-1 win which moves AC Milan to within one point of leaders Inter.
France international Giroud poked Milan level with 15 minutes remaining of a thrilling encounter after Ivan Perisic had given champions Inter a deserved first-half lead with a perfectly placed volley from Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner.
And three minutes later the 35-year-old sent the Milan fans at the San Siro wild with a neat turn and low finish after collecting Davide Calabria’s pass.
“We were in difficulty for the first half. The second 45 minutes we got back in the game, and I was hoping for one or two chances in the area,” Giroud said.
“The first was a bit lucky but the second was a good ball from Cala (Davide Calabria) and great for our fans… I don’t know what to say. I’m very happy and proud of this team which never gave up.”
Giroud was only playing because Zlatan Ibrahimovic was out with an Achilles tendon injury but pounced just as Inter looked to be headed for what up to that point would have been a deserved win.
Milan had hardly created anything until Giroud pushed Brahim Diaz’s mishit and deflected shot past Samir Handanovic but are now right back in a title race which seemed to be heading in Inter’s favour.
Napoli can pile even more pressure on Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, who have a game in hand, when they face Venezia on Sunday with the chance to pull level on 52 points with Milan.
Inter travel to Napoli next weekend in a huge fortnight for them which also includes the visit of Liverpool for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
The defeat will be deeply disappointing for Inter, who were by far the better team for much of the match, and if it hadn’t been for Mike Maignan could easily have been a couple of goals ahead by the time Giroud struck.
France stopper Maignan prevented Denzel Dumfries from putting away a simple one-on-one chance in the first half and kept Milan in the game long enough for them to inflict on Inter a first league home defeat since October 2020.
“It was one-way traffic for 70 minutes… If we played the match again 10 times we might lose once,” said Inzaghi.
“We didn’t deserve to lose, but that’s football.”
AFP