“I almost made a save worthy of a goalkeeper.” Olivier Giroud was smiling after “his” AC Milan’s 1-0 victory at Genoa. And for good reason, the top scorer in the history of the Blues improvised… goalkeeper this Saturday, during this match on the eighth day of Serie A which will be a landmark. Goalkeeper for the Lombard club, Mike Maignan was playing upside down with his knees forward in the 96th minute of play. After examining the images, the referee brandished a red card to the goalkeeper of the France team. Except that Stefano Pioli had already made all his changes. “We first thought of Christian Pulisic, but it was not our best option because of his height (1.78 m, Editor’s note). Ollie emerged as the right solution and he did a good job,” explained the Italian technician.
Better twice than once. On the free kick following Maignan’s foul, Albert Gudmundsson sent the ball onto Giroud’s bar, before a corner for the locals and… the expulsion of Josep Martínez, the Genoa goalkeeper, in the 102nd minute, already beyond seven minutes of added time. Genoa, however, still had time to get a good situation, with Giroud coming out with courage and making a decisive intervention, to the delight of his ecstatic little comrades. “What Ollie did was the embodiment of our state of mind, of our mentality, of a group that always wants to give its best,” said Pioli. “I took my courage in both hands, I threw myself at the ball without knowing what was going to happen. I never thought I would experience this kind of emotion on this side of the field. When I was little, I liked playing goalkeeper. As happiness never comes alone, Milan took the lead in the Serie A standings following Inter’s draw earlier.