Olivier Giroud has been working overtime while the centre-forward department was without alternatives, but it now seems time for him to rest.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Giroud’s obvious fatigue is very understandable given he is 36 years old and has made 14 consecutive starts from club and country in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ante Rebic and Divock Origi.
Origi has so far played eight times for Milan with a total of 158 minutes across five appearances in Serie A and three in the Champions League. In Verona he played for the entire second half and he could well play on Saturday against Monza from the start.
Giroud’s workload must be managed especially if Didier Deschamps decides to summon him for the World Cup in Qatar, so there will also be some space coming up for Rebic too.
So far the Croatian has scored three goals and has added a couple of assists. He netted a brace against Udinese in the first game of the season and then scored in Empoli too, and entered in the 45th minute together with Origi on Sunday setting up Tonali to score the winner late on.
That is why it also seems a concrete possibility that Rebic could actually get a start against Monza, given he convinced more than Origi in Verona and has done so far this season, with five goal contributions in 268 minutes.
