AC Milan have never played Slavia Praha in their 124-year history, but the Czech side are not a new opponent to Olivier Giroud who Stefano Pioli will rely upon again.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recalls that Giroud is a man who knows what it takes to win trophies, given that he has lifted the World Cup, Champions League, Europa League, national leagues and cups in his career. In short, he will not have many regrets but at 37 he hopes he isn’t finished yet.
At Milan, if the paths really part ways in the summer and Giroud emigrates to the USA to finish playing football, then he only has one thing left to further enrich his portfolio and confirm himself as a specialist: to win the Europa League.
Giroud is iconic especially in the Champions League, but rewinding his journey it is not difficult to notice that his most satisfying European year from the point of view of personal numbers was in the Europa League.
In the 2018-19 season he scored 11 goals in 14 games, and 14 games mean only one thing. That’s right, that Giroud got to the final with Chelsea and won it, sharing a dressing room with Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
It is also worth pointing out that Chelsea crossed passed with Slavia on their journey to Baku. It was the quarter-finals and the Frenchman scored a goal and registered an assist in the return leg that the Blues won 4-3 at home.
Five years have passed, but the good feelings of a tournament remain in which, that time, Giroud scored in eight of the fourteen matches in which he took the field, the final against Arsenal included.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who also won the UEL) no longer present on the field, ‘Senator Giroud; is there to take the team by the hand. In Europe, all competitions included, tonight against Slavia will be match number 91 for him (40 goals). The closest in the two squads is Simon Kjaer, at 67.
Giroud has now been without a goal for three games in Europe and Pioli was forced to ask him to work overtime for the umpteenth time due to Luka Jovic’s two-match suspension.
However, the Serbian will be available again on Sunday in the league and this means only one thing: Giroud does not have to worry about playing time against Slavia, but only about finding the net.
