Giroud’s heroics for Milan don’t just mean derby delight over rivals Inter. The victory also reopens the title race with three months left in the season.
Giroud pushes Milan past Inter in the derby and reopens Serie A title race
Nobody wanted to say it, but it was pretty much do-or-die for the Rossoneri at the San Siro on Saturday.
A win for Simone Inzaghi’s men would have sent Inter seven points clear over Milan with a game in hand. Not quite lights out, but near enough, and until 20 minutes from the end, that’s how it was looking.
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Inter were a goal up and probably would have had a greater lead if not for Mike Maignan’s heroics in goal for Milan. Edin Dzeko turned himself from center-forward into playmaker to nullify Franck Kessie’s man-marking job on Marcelo Brozovic.
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Milan struggled to get anything going and Olivier Giroud, starting in place of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was somehow even less mobile and involved than the 40-year-old he was replacing.
Substitutions change games, however. Inzaghi replaced Lautaro Martinez (tired) with Alexis Sanchez, Ivan Perisic (knock) with Federico Dimarco and Hakan Calhanoglu (booked) with Arturo Vidal.
He had reasons for each change, but it’s undeniable that Inter suddenly got markedly worse. They were pushed back into their own half and lost the confidence they had shown to that point.
