When Olivier Giroud went down clutching his ankle during France’s win over Ireland last week there was a lot of apprehension, and that is for good reason.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
Calciomercato.com write how Milan are once again ‘clinging to Giroud’, both for Saturday’s derby and even more so – if it were possible – for the Champions League curtain raiser three nights later against Newcastle.
Milan discover that they cannot do without their trusted centre-forward. While there are other elite players in their positions in the squad like compatriots Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez, Giroud is the goal scorer and the match winner in the big occasion.
He scored four goals in the first three league games and that is why his ankle sprain set off alarm sirens in and around Milanello. Giroud’s immediate return to Italy and then subsequent treatment have averted the risk of his absence on Saturday, but it did reveal a lot.
At the end of the month Giroud will celebrate his 37th birthday. He will do so as a world champions and a Champions League winner among other honours, but the scare of the last few days makes it clear Pioli cannot use him every match of the season.
This, as as an immediate consequence, it is right to think about Tuesday’s match in the Champions League, because fatigue after the derby or worse a relapse of his injury would risk leaving Pioli without a convincing alternative.
Divock Origi and Lorenzo Colombo left during the summer window while Noah Okafor and Luka Jović arrived, but at least for the moment neither of them guarantees the same contribution as Giroud.
The first is not a prolific goal scorer, while the second is more of a gamble given his decline since leaving Germany. Moreover, Jović was signed on the last day of the window and has barely trained with his new team-mates.
There is an argument to be made that three points against Newcastle United would in fact be more important than the three points in the derby, because it is the first game of six in a tough group and not the fourth out of 38.
After Newcastle there will be two consecutive away matches, against Borussia Dortmund and PSG, so the Rossoneri risk having to fight until the final round to try and get through and unlock all the useful prize money that comes with it.
That is why Pioli must judge the situation carefully, balancing priorities between domestic and European action, while also balancing the minutes that the Frenchman plays.
