Olivier Giroud got back to scoring against Roma and he finally played without any physical issues.
Milan took on Roma last night at Stadio San Siro and they did it while missing 11 players between injuries, AFCON and COVID, and having some of their starters on the bench as they’d just gotten fit.
Despite that, the Rossoneri beat Roma 3-1, with goals from Olivier Giroud (8′ pk), Junior Messias (17′), Tammy Abraham (40′) and Rafael Leão (81′), in an exciting match that also saw red cards for Rick Karsdorp (74′) and Gianluca Mancini (93′).
“I think we started very well, like we wanted: with aggression, determination, a great team spirit and good effective pressing. So it’s easier to do well all together,” Giroud told DAZN at the end of the game on Thursday. “Personally I’m happy to have scored a goal and to have played without pain. I was a bit injured in the first months, now I want to do more to help the team.”
If you were the coach of Milan, would you pair you up with Ibra?
“I am not surprised by this question [laughs]! I like playing with him, we haven’t spent too much time together on the field. It depends on the match, if we need two forwards and to score in the second half – like we did against Napoli where we were unlucky at the end. I feel good with my teammates on the field, I think we can play together but for the balance of the team the coach makes the best choices and if we play like this I think we can be a hard team to beat.”
Speaking to MilanTV, the 35-year-old said: “I don’t believe in superstitions, but I had started to after my trouble with COVID, my back and my ankle [laughs]… I’m very happy because I played without issue and I felt great in the game. With the whole team, we did well from the start which is important because in previous matches we wasted too much time and it caused us problems. So, starting well was good. I’m happy to have scored and I was a little unlucky on the second but Messias followed up well.”
On his teammates: “I wasn’t too happy after Empoli, I worked for the team, but I felt like I hadn’t had the chances to score. That’s how it is for a striker, we need to be focused for the team, making runs for the team and always keep on running, never give up. Today I’m happy I scored and I helped the team win.”
On helping Gabbia and Kalulu: “I told Gabbia and Kalulu about Tammy Abraham’s weak spots [smiles], but he is really strong and has a lot of qualities, which he showed today. They did very well. Zaniolo is another strong player and we did well as a team to defend and stop him.”
