Since he took the reins of Milan four years ago, Stefano Pioli has treated his fans with some strong starts in the Serie A. This season made no exception as the Rossoneri caught their second win in a row as they demolished Torino 4-1 at the San Siro on Saturday night.
Olivier Giroud scored Milans’ second and fourth goals from the penalty spot to become the solitary capocannoniere of the top-flight with three goals. Perr Shuurs deluded the Granata as he sealed a temporary equalizer, but Milan scored twice more before the end of the first half already to put a damper on Torino’s hopes.
Christian Pulisic authored Milan’s first goal while Theo Hernandez chipped the ball past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to make it three for the home side, who enjoyed a perfect season debut on their home turf. Torino have not beaten Milan in their own den in a Serie A game since 1985 and they will need to wait some more time to break the curse.
Squadra che vince non si cambia, they say in Italy (“You don’t change a winning team“) and so Stefano Pioli lined up the same eleven men who smashed Bologna in the Serie A opener last Monday.
Ivan Juric also confirmed the same setup as one week ago despite a disappointing nil-nil draw with newly-promoted Cagliari, except for Nemanja Radonijc replacing Yann Karamoh upfront.
Milan started aggressively and pressed high up the pitch, with shots from Rafael Leao and Giroud giving Milinkovic-Savic his first reasons for concern. Torino’s plan seemed to be aimed at breaking their momentum and striking on the counter, but it was disrupted early as striker Toni Sanabria picked up an injury.
He was replaced by the former Rossonero Pietro Pellegri, who put together a courageous performance but was well marshalled by the Milan backline.
Pioli’s band opened the scoring on 32 minutes, courtesy of Pulisic’ second goal this term. The U.S. International ignited a fast break as he exchanged the ball with his former teammate at Chelsea Loftus-Cheek, then found himself at the right place to tap the ball in as the Englishman served him back.
But Milan’s lead lasted only three minutes as a clumsy shot from midfielder Samuele Ricci turned into an assist for Schuurs, who volleyed the ball past Mike Maignan to wrap his first top-flight goal in Italy.
The Rossoneri put themselves back in the driving seat before the half time break, scoring twice more to virtually get the job done as the two sides entered the locker rooms. From a Rafael Leao cross, Giroud’s header bumped into Alessandro Buongiorno’s stretched arm. The referee didn’t see that, but the VAR was showed to mercy. Giroud’s conversion was perfect as he sent Milinkovic-Savic the wrong way.
On 48 minutes, Leao combined with his favorite partner in crime on the left channel to power Milan’s third goal. His diagonal pass for Theo Hernandez was brilliant, but the French left back did something even more beautiful as he chipped the ball past the hapless Torino shot-stopper to make it 3-1.
Juric tried a reaction as he replaced Ivan Ilic with Karol Linetty, but it didn’t help. A part of the San Siro lights literally went down for a few minutes, just as to symbolize that the game was over. The fans came to help from the stands by switching their mobile lights on until the stadium lighting was restored. That was a fun sight.
Milan had not had enough and continued to attack despite the double lead, especially with Pulisic who never seemed to get tired. They were eventually rewarded as Schuurs naively stomped on Leao’s foot in the box, prompting the referee to award another penalty to the home side. Giroud obliged again.
There were still 20 minutes left, so Pioli could give more playing time to some of his new joiners like Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor, and Yunus Musah while Torino tried to score a second one to save their pride but didn’t seem to have enough willpower for that.
Milan thus wrapped a perfect start to their home campaign, showing an impressive cohesion for a team that has signed nine new players this summer and has three key new starters in its lineup. Next game against Roma, on Friday at the Stadio Olimpico, will tell what the Rossoneri have really got.
As for Torino, the upcoming home test against Genoa looks like a necessary redemption chance for a Granata side that has had a pretty disappointing season start.
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