It took Milan over 30 years to win back-to-back Serie A matches away to Napoli, but three decades of suffering came to an end on Sunday. Olivier Giroud’s second-half winner fired the Rossoneri to a crucial 1-0 victory at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium and back to the top of the Serie A table.
Milan were keen to exact revenge on Napoli following a controversial 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at San Siro, where Franck Kessie’s late equaliser was disallowed after a questionable VAR decision. It took Stefano Pioli’s team plenty of fighting spirit and commitment, but they got there through the talismanic Frenchman.
After single-handedly turning the latest Serie A installment of the famous Derby della Madonnina around, Giroud stepped up to the plate again to deliver an all-important win in southern Italy. Following last season’s 3-1 triumph in this fixture, Milan have won consecutive league matches at Napoli for the first time since 1981.
The Rossoneri could not have picked the better moment to break the curse. In addition to reclaiming the top spot from Inter, Milan may have inflicted irreversible damage on Napoli’s Scudetto hopes. Not so much in terms of points, as only three are currently separating the sides, but more from a psychological aspect.
Luciano Spalletti’s side headed into proceedings in high spirits following a dramatic 2-1 victory away to Lazio last time out. However, the hype has been quickly doused by Milan’s deserved triumph, forcing Napoli to start from scratch.
Giroud may have found the decisive goal, but it feels that Fikayo Tomori played a pivotal role in helping Milan squeeze past the Partenopei. The English defender, who has gone from strength to strength since joining from Chelsea last winter, put on another eye-catching performance to keep Victor Osimhen at bay.
Tomori, who is growing increasingly vital to Pioli’s set-up, refused to hide his emotions after Milan’s success in Naples.
“We are happy with this victory, the dressing room is very happy. We have ten games to play. Tonight was a difficult game and we won, but we need to do more,” he told DAZN in the aftermath as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
Milan will try to retain their place at the Serie A summit next weekend when they take on bottom-half Empoli at home.