On paper, Malick Thiaw was one of the culprits in AC Milan’s 2-1 defeat to Torino as he scored an own-goal. Those of us who watched the game know that it was mainly Mike Maignan’s fault, but the centre-back still equalled a rather bizarre record as a result.
It was in the fifth minute that a ball over the top was chased down by Thiaw and the Torino’s Antonio Sanabria. The defender managed to get ahead of the striker and held him off for Maignan to collect the ball.
Instead of sending it out for a throw-in, or even taking it in his stride (keeping possession), Maignan booted it straight at Thiaw and Sanabria. The ball hit the centre-back and deflected into the back of the net, resulting in the own-goal.
As highlighted by OptaPaolo, Thiaw is the first Milan defender to score two own-goals against one team in the same season. While yesterday’s wasn’t his fault at all, he could have done better in the reverse fixture.
Only Franco Baresi, the Milan legend, has accomplished that before as he scored two own-goals in the same game against Pescara in 1992-93. What Thiaw did is thus perhaps even more ‘impressive’, achieving it across two legs.
