AC Milan, carried by Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic, dominated Bologna on its ground (2-0) at the end of the 1st day of the Italian Championship, Monday. Giroud and Pulisic, who arrived in the offseason from Chelsea for 20 million euros, have only been together for a few weeks, but their association has already made some sparks.
The French striker opened the scoring in the 12th minute by taking over at the far post a setback from Tijjani Reijnders after a bright opening from Pulisic. Including the end of last season, Giroud, 36, has scored six goals in the last four league games. Eight minutes later, the 2018 world champion turned into a passer for Pulisic, who he cleverly moved into the penalty area.
Bologna, who had hit the crossbar in the first minute on a long shot from Charalampos Lykogiannis, eventually came to their senses in the second half. But the team trained by Thiago Motta came up against the goalkeeper of the France team Mike Maignan, decisive against Michel Aebischer (61). After the outings of Giroud and Pulsic in the 73rd minute, the Lombard club almost added a third goal on a raid by Rafael Leao, but his shot was blocked by the left post of the Bologna goal (89).
“We showed great things, but there are still points to improve. Our recruits have shown that they can play football. I am very happy with my team”, analyzed Stefano Pioli on the DAZN platform.
The Milanese coach wanted to salute Giroud’s performance: “He is an example on the pitch, he is a technical leader, always available to help the team. He is an important player for us, but we will have to take his age into account and find solutions to make him breathe.
With this success, AC Milan is 4th, just behind defending champion Naples, winner on Saturday at Frosinone (3-1) with a double from Victor Osimhen. The leader at the end of this first day is Fiorentina who won 4-1 on Saturday against promoted Genoa.
