AC Milan has qualified for the eighth final of the Champions League in a direct duel with Red Bull Salzburg. The formation of trainer Stefano Pioli only had to draw on its own field, but showed itself far too strong for the champion of Austria: 4-0. Olivier Giroud was the big man on Milan’s side, scoring two goals and an assist.
Salzburg, where former Ajax player Max Wöber was the oldest of the bunch at 24, tried to claim the victory in San Siro with the youngest starting eleven ever in the Champions League. Just a three-pointer would be enough to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League, but it was Milan that showed. I Rossoneric were not going to back down and even deservedly took the lead. Olivier Giroud headed in the 1-0 and thought he would make the second before half time, were it not for the fact that he was offside.
GOAL! Olivier Giroud does it for AC Milan and brings the Italians a lot closer to the eighth finals! #MILSAL #UCL pic.twitter.com/nmkazIlTnm
— VTBL ? (@vtbl) Nov 2, 2022
The doubling of the margin was not long in coming in the second half. Within a minute of the kick-off, Rade Krunic appeared in front of Salzburg’s goal and nodded his head on a pass from Giroud: 2-0. It was the French striker’s game anyway, as he also took care of the third Milan goal. Giroud was in the right place to fire a rebound into the far corner and ensured that Salzburg was permanently sent to the Europa League. Deep in injury time, Junior Messias determined the final score at 4-0.
Chelsea will not be surprised
Chelsea had already made it to the last sixteen and only played for group wins at their own Stamford Bridge. However, Dinamo Zagreb could still hope to reach the Europa League and had to take a result for that. Bruno Petkovic made sure that the Croats could indeed dream of something beautiful in the seventh minute, as he nodded the 0-1 against the ropes, but that setback gave Chelsea resilience. Raheem Sterling soon scored the equalizer with a bit of luck and starting debutant Denis Zakaria made it 2-1 from the edge of the penalty area.
And it’s already 2-1 at Stamford Bridge..?? Denis Zakaria is allowed to print from the 16th and he doesn’t see his shot being cracked well enough ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #CHEDZG pic.twitter.com/CXKPEM2tqZ
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 2, 2022
Very little happened in the second half as Chelsea did not see the need to look for more goals and Dinamo was unable to reach the goal. the Blues to come close. The match ended 2-1, the formation from London secured the group win and Dinamo Zagreb was eliminated. They see that Salzburg is running away with the Europa League ticket and that Milan has qualified as number two for the eighth finals. It is the first time since the 2013/14 season that the red blacks from Milan are allowed to report back to the last sixteen.