AC Milan’s Olivier Giroud is the difference this year. The veteran forward scored again against Napoli to help the Rossoneri win 1-0. This was the Rossoneri’s first Serie A title in more than a decade.
Giroud scored Milan’s only goal in a fierce, but cagey match.
Milan is now two points ahead Inter Milan, the defending champion — who has played one less match — and three ahead Napoli in third.
Giroud, 35, who moved from Chelsea to the offseason, scored both goals in Inter’s 2-1 win last month.
Milan coach Stefano Pioli stated that he wanted to bring in players with substance, players who have won, and players who know what it means to work hard to win. It only took us all to see Olivier as a great professional and a great person for us to appreciate his contributions.
“It is important to have players who are experienced, professional, and with a sense of humor, especially as we are still a young team. We wanted to bring in players who were technically, tactically, and morally high-quality. Olivier is all that.
Milan is seven points behind Juventus, and Juventus kept its slim title hopes alive with a win over Spezia 1-0.
Before the match, talk revolved around Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to Milan. He was unavailable for Milan since January due to an Achilles problem.
It was another veteran, however, who took the center stage. After a first-half that featured entertainment but few scoring opportunities, Giroud broke the deadlock just four minutes into the restart.
Napoli did not score a free kick, and Davide Calabria’s shot wasn’t very good. Giroud was able to deflect it into bottom left corner.
Giroud scored the 11th Milan goal, but it was his first away from San Siro.
Napoli nearly equalized immediately, but Victor Osimhen’s powerful strike was right at Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Ibrahimovic was substituted in the last minute.
REFUSAL FROM INJURIES
Juventus extended its unbeaten streak in the league to 14 games, despite an injury crisis that left Massimiliano Allegri’s side without nine regular players.
Juventus was six points ahead of fifth-place Atalanta who has played one less match.
Alvaro Morata scored in the 21st minutes to make it the only goal of this game. This was due to an error made by Spezia goalkeeper Ivan Provedel. Manuel Locatelli intercepted his terrible kick in midfield. He played it through to Morata, who then rolled it over to Morata from a great position on Morata’s left side. For his first league goal since December, the Juventus forward hit the ball in the bottom corner.
Spezia began the second period more aggressively, almost levelling the score. However, Emmanuel Gyasi’s header was directly at Wojciech Szczesny of Juventus and landed on the line.
CHASING EUROPE
Fiorentina was left to regret several missed opportunities after it was held to an 1-1 draw at Hellas Verona.
The two teams were separated by just two points. Both wanted to win in order to secure their European places.
Fiorentina was ahead in 10 minutes thanks to Krzysztof Pietek, but Gianluca Caprari scored a penalty goal 10 minutes later.
Genoa, on the other side of the table, recorded its sixth consecutive draw as it continues its quest for safety.
Genoa’s draw against Empoli was enough to keep it within seven points. Also, Venezia remained in the third place after it lost 4-1 to Sassuolo at home. Torino drew 0-0 at Bologna.
