Three minutes – that’s all it took for French forward Olivier Giroud to turn the Milan derby on its head, by scoring two goals. The veteran scored rapidly in the second half, helping AC Milan take the lead, after trailing by one goal against league leaders, Inter. 

This marks Giroud’s first derby appearance since joining Milan last summer. Speaking to CBS, Giroud said, “I don’t like to say that I was the hero”, before continuing, “A striker is on the pitch to score goals and I was a bit lucky, at the right place at the right time on the first one. The second one was something that I like to do, and [Davide] Calabria gave me a good ball and we just bounced back after a difficult first half. They didn’t put the game to bed and they let us come back into the game. We showed great team spirit and I’m very proud of the team”. 

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While the game started off conservatively, with both Milanese clubs taking a defensive approach, it started to open up from the ninth minute. Denzel Dumfries hit a header, which would have been the opening goal of the game. However, it was disallowed as Inter’s Ivan Perisic was offside. The Croatian more than made up for it, a while later by converting a corner kick into the first goal of the match, as his shot sent the ball to the corner of the goalpost. 

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Giroud’s first Milan derby goal came at the 75th minute, and his brace ended the deadlock at San Siro soon after. After the game, Giroud said, “We had to give everything in the second half because it was today and not tomorrow. Tomorrow would have been too late. It was a six-point game and we knew it before. We’ve done it, we’re in a better position now but we are still chasing them. It’s nice because we — one more time — showed great team character”.

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The results shrink the difference between Serie A table-toppers Inter and AC Milan to one point. While the Nerazzurri have lost their four-point lead, they have a game in hand.