MILAN: Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham both got off the mark in Serie A on Sunday as the former Chelsea men helped their new teams AC Milan and AS Roma to comfortable victories which gave them two wins from the season’s opening two fixtures.

France forward Giroud, who has not been picked for Les Bleus’ upcoming World Cup qualifiers, bagged a brace in a 4-1 win over Cagliari at the San Siro while Abraham scored in a 4-0 rout at promoted Salernitana.

Both strikers left European champions Chelsea this summer in the search of more regular football and have got off to quick starts in Italy.

In Milan, all the goals came in the first half with Giroud scoring the last two after early strikes from Sandro Tonali and Rafael Leao. Alessandro Deiola briefly made it 1-1 for Cagliari.

Milan opened the scoring when Tonali curled a free kick into the top near corner in the 12th minute. It was also his first goal for Milan and only a second in Serie A for the former Brescia midfielder.

Cagliari leveled three minutes later as Deiola headed in a delightful lofted pass from Joao Pedro but Milan restored their lead almost immediately when Leao’s effort was deflected in.

Giroud scored his first goal in the 24th. Brahim Diaz raced forward from the centre of midfield and sent a ball through to Giroud, who fired it into the far side of the net.

He also converted a penalty two minutes from halftime after Cagliari midfielder Kevin Strootmann handled the ball just inside the penalty area.

Salernitana had narrowly lost their first match back in the top flight for more than 20 years as they were defeated 3-2 by Bologna last week.

It was a lot more humiliating in its first home match following a second-half capitulation.

Lorenzo Pellegrini broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half and also scored Roma’s fourth. Abraham opened his Roma account in the 69th following a goal from Jordan Veretout.

Substitute Andrea Petagna scored two minutes after coming off the bench as Napoli also made it two wins out of two with a 2-1 victory at Genoa.

Petagna’s goal came with six minutes remaining after Genoa midfielder Andrea Cambiaso had canceled out Fabian Ruiz’s opener.

Sassuolo and Sampdoria played out a goalless draw in the other early match, with Emil Audero putting in a great performance in the Samp goal to escape with a point.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2021