AC Milan is the new leader in the Italian Championship standings after its victory on Saturday at Genoa (1-0) preserved by a decisive stop in added time by Olivier Giroud who replaced Mike in the Milan goals Maignan, excluded.
He is already the top scorer in the history of the French team, but since the 8th day of the Italian Championship, Olivier Giroud has made a name for himself as a goalkeeper. Because if Christian Pulisic scored the winning goal in the 87th minute, it was Giroud who was the architect of this laborious success. His teammates were not mistaken: at the final whistle, they rushed towards the French international wearing the green jersey of his compatriot Mike Maignan, excluded shortly before for a dangerous exit from his penalty area in front of Caleb Ekuban .
Also read “I took my courage in both hands”: Giroud becomes goalkeeper and saves AC Milan (video)
On the free kick following Maignan’s foul, the ball hit the Milanese crossbar. Genoa goalkeeper Josep Martinez, who went up to try to equalize, was in turn sent off for a bad gesture on a Milan player. At ten against ten, Genoa offered itself one last opportunity, but Giroud intervened in front of George Puscas in two stages. “I almost made a save worthy of a goalkeeper,” smiled Giroud on the DAZN platform. “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,” he recalled.
Thanks to this victory, AC Milan overtook Inter and is two points ahead of its great rival, held to a draw at home by Bologna (2-2). Everything started well for Inter who, after the first quarter of an hour, led 2-0, notably with the tenth goal this season from Lautaro Martinez (13th). The Argentinian became with his superb strike the third player in Inter’s history to reach ten goals after eight matches, joining legend Giuseppe Meazza (11, in 1935-36) and Antonio Valentin Angelillo (16, in 1958-59).
But the 2022 world champion and his teammates suddenly and inexplicably lost their footing. Bologna reduced the score from the penalty spot (19th) after Lewis Ferguson was belted by Lautaro Martinez in the Inter penalty area. The irresistible team of the first quarter of an hour then gave way to a feverish team which conceded a second goal on a 20m shot from the Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee (59th). “I am angry (…) This is the second time, after the match against Sassuolo, that we are leading and unable to win, because of careless mistakes which cost us dearly . We should have scored more than two goals in the first period,” regretted Simone Inzaghi, on DAZN.
The day after the confirmation of the positive doping test of Paul Pogba, suspended since September 11, Juventus won 2-0 against Torino the 207th edition of the “derby della Mole”. Without Federico Chiesa or Dusan Vlahovic, eight goals between them, Juve was pushed around in the first half by a very physical Torino team. The entry at the break of Arkadiusz Milik freed the Bianconeri who opened the scoring through Federico Gatti (47th). Milik doubled the lead with a header in the 62nd minute.
His coach Massimiliano Allegri signed his 289th victory in Serie A, a new record since the victory fell to three points. The most successful club in Italian football moved from 4th to 3rd place (17 points), at least temporarily ahead of Naples which hosts Fiorentina on Sunday.