The Ibra effect is starting to be felt at Milan: the Swede's first start, almost eight years after the last time, in May 2012, is in fact worth the return to victory for Pioli's team after three rounds without wins and without goals. The Swede finds the back of the net in Serie A 2800 days after his last one (always wearing the Rossoneri shirt). The difficult moment for Cagliari, on the other hand, continues (on the pitch with the centenary jersey, white with a red and blue cross on the chest), who after a great first part of the season are forced to deal with the first real lean moment of the championship, given that against Milan came the fourth consecutive defeat for Maran's men. If Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a starter is obviously the main novelty among the Rossoneri, who line up Leao alongside the ex Galaxy in an unusual 4-4-2, on the opposite front, Maran has to deal with several important absences but does not abandon the classic 4-3-1-2, with Joao Pedro pairing up with Simeone in attack and, in the defensive line, Pisacane who returns to the pitch. At the start of the match, Cagliari immediately tries to put pressure on Milan: in the 2nd minute Nandez serves Joao Pedro, whose shot is deflected into a corner by Romagnoli. The first part of the match was full of bursts of energy, and on one of these, in the 17th minute, Milan became dangerous with Theo Hernandez who, served by Calhanoglu, concluded with a left-footed shot, forcing Olsen to deflect it into a corner. In the 20th minute, from a cross by Pellegrini, a fortuitous clash between Romagnoli and Donnarumma sends shivers down the spines of the Rossoneri fans, but no Rossoblu player takes advantage of it. After showing little in the first half hour, in the 31st minute Ibra came close to scoring with a header (from a cross by Calhanoglu) on which Olsen did a fantastic job in deflecting it to keep the score at 0-0. On the corner that followed, Leao had a good ball from a few steps away, after a previous touch by Romagnoli, but he finished wide. In the 37th minute, Milan were still dangerous with a long-range shot from Calhanoglu that ended up high. A minute later, however, Cagliari came close to taking the lead when Donnarumma first mistimed his exit and was beaten to the ball by Nandez, but then redeemed himself with a great save on the latter's 25-meter lob. The end of the half saw no further excitement, so the score was still 0-0 at half-time. Upon returning to the pitch, Milan only needed a minute to unlock the match: Calhanoglu served Leao in depth, who controlled well and attempted a shot that, deflected by Pisacane, soared and fooled Olsen. Cagliari's response was entrusted to a Simeone overhead kick, in the 6th minute, which ended not far from the post. In the 10th minute the rossoblù try again with a left-footed volley from Faragò: the ball goes wide. On the opposite front, Ibrahimovic grows and begins to sting: first he earns and then concludes a free kick against the wall, then, in the 64th minute, he finds the double by turning into the net with his left a nice invitation from Hernandez from the left. This is Ibra's first goal in his new adventure with the Rossoneri, seven years and 250 days after the one he scored against Inter. Maran then tried everything, first bringing on Cerri for Simeone, then Ionita and Castro for Nandez and Rog, but couldn't get beyond a nice header from Faragò (77') which ended just high. Indeed, in the 83rd minute the Rossoneri would have even scored a third, with the usual Ibra's diving header on a cross from Bennacer, but the Swede's offside nullified everything. However, very little has changed: Milan is relaunching and enjoying its new-old 'totem', while Cagliari must postpone its plans for revenge. “For a striker, scoring a goal is always important, trying to stay in front of the goal and score. Then the goal comes sooner or later." This is how Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan striker, commented on the goal and the victory against Cagliari to Sky microphones. “The important thing is that I feel good, I made a few mistakes but I have to play a few games to get back into top form,” he added. On celebrating like God as promised, the Swede said: “Every goal I score I celebrate like God, that's how I feel alive”. On his physical condition, Ibrahimovic said: “I'm fine, the coach thinks about my age but there's no problem. The brain is always the same, but the body must follow.” On the change of formation that seems to be working, the Rossoneri centre forward said: “Today we played with 2 attackers and it went well, we worked on it all week and the result arrived: we took the 3 points. Now we hope to continue, we suffer but in the end when you work everything comes back”. Infine sul suo futuro, Ibra ha scherzato: “Per rinnovare devo vincere il campionato, mi sa che è difficile”.
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