Milan, Two vital games, three goals, six points. Olivier Giroud is keeping AC Milan very much in the title race, reports AP.
Giroud has scored 11 goals in all competitions since joining Milan from Chelsea in the offseason but it is his ability to do it in big matches that could prove to be the difference for the Rossoneri.
The Milan forward netted two in a 2-1 victory against defending champion Inter Milan at the beginning of February and did it again last weekend with the only goal in a 1-0 win at Napoli that sent his team two points clear at the top of Serie A.
That was certainly where he was at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as Davide Calabria’s scuffed shot was going wide before Giroud showed great reflexes to deflect it into the bottom corner.
Milan plays mid-table Empoli on Saturday and will be looking to preserve its advantage over Inter, which has played a match less. Napoli is only three points behind the Rossoneri.
No wonder Giroud was all smiles when he was spotted outside Milan’s headquarters earlier this week. He posed for photos with fans and when one asked him if Milan would win the title this year, he responded with a grin: “Yes, of course.”
Giroud was signed partly as a backup to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But, with the 40-year-old Ibrahimovic having spent large portions of the season sidelined with injury, Giroud has found himself a regular in the team.
Ibrahimovic, who helped Milan to second place in Serie A last season, returned from his latest injury in the dying stages of Sunday’s match. But Giroud is not concerned about the competition for a starting role between the two aging forwards.
Giroud indeed has that experience from a long and glittering career: he won three FA Cups with Arsenal and also lifted that trophy with Chelsea, as well as winning the Champions League and Europa League.
He also helped France win the World Cup in 2018. But Giroud has only won a league title once, with Montpellier in France in 2012. That was the year after Milan’s last Serie A title before the storied club’s downturn in fortunes.
Giroud is ready to end that wait for both him and the club.
Source: Bahrain News Agency