Almost every season, it happens that a field player puts on the gloves of his goalkeeper who has just received a red after all the substitutions have been made… With more or less success. This Saturday, at the end of the meeting between AC Milan and Genoa, Olivier Giroud, more accustomed to scoring goals than defending the goal, replaced goalkeeper Mike Maignan, excluded at the end of added time. And number 9 (or 16 for a few minutes) proved decisive.
Witness his authoritarian dive at the feet of opposing striker George Puscas at the very end of the match. In the process, the top scorer in the history of the Blues managed to seize the ball before being congratulated by his teammates. A heroic outing which allowed the Rossoneri to maintain their goal lead before winning one goal to zero.
“I almost made a save worthy of a goalkeeper,” smiled Giroud at the microphone of 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 continued.
The staff first thought of Pulisic
“What Ollie did is the embodiment of our state of mind, of our mentality, of a group that always wants to give its maximum,” greeted his coach Stefano Pioli before explaining why he chose to have Maignan replaced by his compatriot. “We first thought of Christian Pulisic, but it was not our best option due to his height (1.78 m, Editor’s note). Ollie emerged as the right solution and he did a good job. »
Thanks to this victory, AC Milan is at the top of Serie A and overtakes its great rival Inter, held in check (2-2) by Bologna earlier in the day.
