An early second-half header from AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud gave the Italian club its first win of the season in the Champions League Group F tournament, a 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
Three minutes after former Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar put PSG ahead, Rafael Leao scored an acrobatic equalizer, and soon after halftime, Olivier Giroud sealed a crucial victory in front of 75,649 at the San Siro.
Milan are now in third place with five points after four games, two points behind PSG in second place. Borussia Dortmund which is on the top have seven points after winning 2-0 earlier on Tuesday at home to Newcastle United who are bottom on four points.
Despite the inevitable slowing of the pace in the second half, the match at San Siro was nevertheless an engrossing duel in which Milan had to hold on at the finish as PSG poured on the pressure.
“It was a high-level match, we knew the difficulty of coming to play here,” Marquinhos, captain of PSG, said to Canal+. We were doing well at the time, but scoring a second goal would swing the match in our favor.
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If we didn’t win today, we’d have a tough time making the playoffs, but we can’t give up now. We still have complete control.
Milan, who reached the quarterfinals of last year’s championship, won a Champions League game in which they had trailed for the first time since overcoming Real Madrid in 2009.
After nine minutes, PSG took the lead on a well-worked corner. Skriniar scored his first goal for the Paris club when Marquinhos flicked on the free kick and he was all alone in the box.
They have scored in their last 48 group stage matches in the Champions League, the greatest run in the competition’s history, having previously drawn a blank against Real Madrid in 2015.
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Leao scored a great equalizer for the home team three minutes later. Leao scored an overhead kick after Giroud’s initial shot was stopped by Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was playing against his former team.
Ousmane Dembele’s curling attempt from 25 yards out hit the crossbar, and then Kylian Mbappe had a one-on-one with Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, but he scuffed his shot wide.
Milan took the lead early in the second half when Giroud met Theo Hernandez’s pinpoint cross with his customary thunderous header.
PSG’s five-game winning streak came to an end on a night when Lee Kang-In hit the post for the Parisians.
What we intended happened: the guys played passionately and enthusiastically. It was a terrific squad, but we were able to work together and win,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli remarked.
The squad did a great job of cooperating, and they earned the victory. We must now outperform Dortmund and pass them.
While PSG welcomes Newcastle on November 28, Milan hosts Dortmund.
