The start of the year for AC Milan took on a very French accent this Thursday, January 6. For its first match of 2022, the Milanese club won at home at the San Siro stadium against AS Roma (3-1), thanks to its French players. Four of them were holders at the kickoff: Mike Maignan, Pierre Kalulu, Olivier Giroud and Théo Hernandez.
It is the latter who illustrated himself first. The captain’s armband around his arm – a first since his arrival in Lombardy in 2019, made possible by the absence of several players affected by the Covid-19 -, Hernandez caused a penalty after four short minutes of play. was (very) slightly touched by Tammy Abraham. Enough for the match referee to designate the penalty spot.
Olivier Giroud, preferred to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at kick-off, then came forward to shoot him. Without trembling, the striker with 46 goals for the France team opened the scoring for AC Milan (8th). His first achievement with the Milan club since October 26 after a first part of the season in his new club largely truncated by injuries (Covid-19, back, ankle).
100% – All five goals scored by Olivier Giroud in this league have been in home games: among the players of the big-5 European leagues with at least five goals at home, only Aramu and Bruno Fernandes have scored only in home games. Hospitable.#MilanRoma
– OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 6, 2022
Less than ten minutes later, Giroud was still decisive, stealing a bad pass behind a Roma defender. The tricolor striker from AC Milan then found the post, but Junior Messias took the opportunity to give the Rossoneri a break (17th). Then began the Maignan show.
Returning from injury at the end of November after a wrist injury, the former LOSC goalkeeper confirmed his express adaptation to Italian football against Rome. The goalkeeper of the France team distinguished himself by making four decisive stops (24th, 59th, 61st) including an impressive reflex parade just before Roma reduced the score by Abraham (40th).
Taking advantage of the red cards addressed to Romans Rick Karsdorp (74th) and Gianluca Mancini (93rd) and the saves of his French goalkeeper, AC Milan drove the point home by Rafael Leao (82nd) ten minutes from the end of the match. A goal on which no tricolor was involved. Still, with this victory with the blue paw, AC Milan (2nd) is one point behind Inter (1st) in the standings, whose match at midday was postponed due to cases of Covid- 19 in the workforce of his opponent Bologna.