Despite their poor recent form, the hosts, who had already secured second spot, began very strongly, with visiting goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo denying Giroud and Rafael Leao in the opening few minutes. Christian Pulisic was next to test the 34-year-old after squirming away from Junior Sambia, before the American fashioned two further openings, but failed to find the telling pass both times.
That ceased to matter on 22 minutes though as Tijjani Reijnders’ floated ball looked an extremely comfortable one for Fiorillo to deal with, but he shockingly spilled it right into the path of Leao, who was left with the easiest of finishes.
It wasn’t long before Milan’s lead was doubled when Alessandro Florenzi’s dangerous corner found Giroud, who was falling to ground but managed to produce a perfectly executed volley into Fiorillo’s right-hand corner.
The floodgates threatened to open, but thankfully for Salernitana, a third goal, this time by Theo Hernandez, was then chalked off for an offside earlier in the move, before Fiorillo clawed away Matteo Gabbia’s header on the stroke of half time.
On an evening of farewells, the injury-plagued Mattia Caldara, another player departing Milan, made a belated league debut here after joining in 2018, replacing Gabbia just shy of the hour mark. Out of the blue however, Salernitana soon halved the deficit.
Miscommunication between Fikayo Tomori and stand-in goalkeeper Antonio Mirante led to the concession of a corner, which was whipped into the box by Sambia for substitute Simy to nod in at close range.
Simy incredibly then almost equalised as his downward header was pushed on to the woodwork by Mirante.
The home faithful were understandably getting more tense but the two-goal cushion was restored on 77 minutes as Pulisic found Davide Calabria, whose glancing header flew across Fiorillo.
Sambia’s low strike ensured a nervy finale, and after Giroud and Mirante were brought off to standing ovations, the latter’s replacement, debutant Lapo Nava, was quickly forced to pick the ball out of his net as Simy got his second of a remarkable contest, tucking home after Loum Tchaouna’s shot had been palmed into his path.
Milan did at least limp to 75 points - the third time in four full campaigns under Pioli that they’ve reached that figure - while Salernitana, despite rallying late on, are still without a win in 2024 (D5, L16) and must next try their luck in Serie B.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Simy (Salernitana)
