After a red-hot start to life as a Milan player, Olivier Giroud has not been able to hit the same levels in what has been a disrupted last couple of weeks.
Giroud returned to the field against Spezia after recovering from a back problem but did not give much of a contribution in that game, nor against Atletico Madrid when he came on as a substitute in the Champions League, albeit in a difficult situation.
It is worth remembering that Giroud was out with Covid, which took him away from the training pitch for about ten days. The 35-year-old looked a shadow of what he did in the first two league games against Sampdoria and Cagliari, so some recovery time is needed.
Carlo Pellegatti spoke on his YouTube channel about Giroud has no doubts that Covid is the reason for the drop in performance level.
“The logic was, he comes back and plays 30 minutes with Spezia and then was a starter against Atletico Madrid. Then seeing the training sessions, which are not as intense as the match, Pioli changed his mind, because he didn’t see him at his best,” he said (via MilanLive).
“Do you remember how long it took Tonali to get back in condition? Or Bennacer, how many travails and tribulations. We hope that Giroud will recover more quickly. Giroud is not well, he is not in condition.
“Against Spezia he had somewhat masked this condition and deluded us. He also deceived Pioli but the player does not seem to stand up physically and against Atalanta we will see. It is evident that he was affected by Covid, despite being asymptomatic.”
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We should play Maldini more till Giroud is 100%. Who knows if Maldini could replicate what Kaka did to Rui Costa…