By Temisan Amoye

French striker Oliver Giroud struck a brace as he opened his Milan account to guide the Rossoneri to a comfortable 4-0 win over Cagliari in the Serie A on Sunday.

The win sees Milan maintain their perfect start to the 2021-22 Serie A season, winning all two matches so far.

Highly-rated midfielder Sandro Tonali opened the scoring for Milan with a sublime freekick in the 12th minute, only for the Rossoneri to be pegged back three minutes later, courtesy of a Alessandro Deiola header.

It was end-to-end stuff as Portuguese attacker Rafael Leo restored Milan’s lead two minutes after Deiola’s equalizer. Leao’s effort from range took a heavy deflection off Brahim Diaz into the Cagliari net.

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Giroud fired in Milan’s third with a neat finish in the 24th minute, receiving a pass from Diaz, then planting a left-footed shot into the top corner. The Frenchman wasn’t done yet, scoring from the penalty spot to increase Milan’s lead to 4-1.

Speaking in a post-match interview with DAZN, Giroud expressed pride at playing for Milan and wearing the No. 9 jersey.

He said: “I am very proud to play for Milan, playing at San Siro is a great emotion.

“There is something special about being Milan’s number nine. I grew up watching (Jean-Pierre) Papin, (Marco) Van Basten and Filippo Inzaghi.”

Giroud became the first player to score two or more goals in his first Serie A home match for AC Milan since Mario Balotelli in February 2013.

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