AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli will ask Olivier Giroud to lead the line in the derby against Inter tonight, and he can rely on a cup specialist.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recalls how Giroud’s first cup goals came back in January 2009 when he was 23 years old and played for Tours in the second division, netting 4 goals in a 7-1 win. The first of 33 cup goals came on a winter evening, and the last two came against Lazio in the 4-0 quarter-final rout.
In the middle, the Frenchman managed four FA Cup trophies between Arsenal and Chelsea, three Community Shields with the Gunners, a League Cup final played and lost with Montpellier and also a Europa League and Champions League wineners medal with Chelsea.
He played his first ever cup match almost sixteen years ago back in August 2006, when Montpellier won 3-0 against Grenoble after Italy had just won the World Cup against France. In 2018, in Russia, he would avenge that defeat by becoming a world champion under Deschamps.
At Milan he is already showing himself to be decisive in cup tournaments too. In the last 16 against Genoa he scored a fantastic header to equalise and force extra-time against Genoa, while in the quarter-finals against Lazio he dragged Pioli’s side to victory with a quick brace.
Now he will face Inter again, a club that wanted him in the past. Paolo Maldini convinced him to choose the Rossoneri side of the city with a call on FaceTime over the summer, and now the 35-year-old wants to win trophies.
Giroud is indeed the man to rely on ..He loves the big games ,and he knows from experience how to be in the right place at the right time ..I have never doubted this man ..technically the best in the world ..it’s not all about pace ..The first few yards are in his head …
THIS MILAN TEAM ……the best is yet to come ..
A win tonight …I really believe this ..
A win tonight. Giroud will be decisive again