for Olivier Giroud, the countdown has begun before the end of an exceptional international career

For the French striker, who is playing his last tournament with the French team, each match at the Euro could now be the last in a long international career marked by a World Cup, 57 goals, and perhaps more.

According to the words of his teammate and friend, Antoine Griezmann, “He’s still the same, still happy, still fit and he demands a lot of work in the kitchen”. Always the same, and yet Olivier Giroud should not be indifferent to this Euro, his final competition under the blue jersey. From the match against Belgium, Monday 1^er July, each knockout match could be his last with the French team, whose history he made by becoming its top scorer (57 goals).

“Would I change anything? No, nothing. My career with the club or the French team has exceeded all my dreams.”, declared Olivier Giroud at a press conference in Paderborn on June 14. However, the striker only started working at the very highest level late, at the age of 24 in Ligue 1 with Montpellier, after having gone back and forth between Ligue 2 and the National during his first professional years. And a year later, at the age of 25, he discovered the French team, even though he seemed less predestined than his older brother, Romain, a central defender, who had made several national selections as a youth.

“Knowing the man’s trajectory, I said to myself that finally, his tenacity, his stubbornness and his merits were rewarded. I discovered a guy full of wisdom, who exudes something modest, simple, with a capacity for “listens, and the rest of his career bears witness to it”says Philippe Tournon, press chief for the Blues when Olivier Giroud climbed the steps of the Château de Clairefontaine for the first time in 2011. The striker will then make his debut in blue on 11/11/11, against the United States, with an entry into play at the 59^e minute in place of Kevin Gameiro. For his first goal, he would only have to wait until his third match, in a friendly against Germany, on February 29, 2012, on the occasion of his first tenure.

“He still remained like a competitor and everyone wants to play, but we have always had good relationships and to see that so many years later, the guy has gained ground while keeping all his humility, it’s nice, greets Loïc Rémy, consultant for France Télévisions, who was part of the Blues group when Olivier Giroud arrived. To be honest, I didn’t think he would have this career.” Finally, 13 years after his first appearance in the French jersey, Olivier Giroud will bow out with the Blues at the age of 37. “After the 2018 World Cup and the Nations League in 2021, we thought he had had his day. And his age and his track record allowed him to draw a sumptuous line under this career. But he waited and continued to take on new challenges.”underlines Philippe Tournon.

Olivier Giroud explains this longevity by his style of play. “I never relied on my explosiveness or my top speed. Arsène Wenger told me that I could play until I was old, because I wouldn’t have to lose speed.”he explained at a press conference. “His style of play is not spectacular, even if he can score spectacular goals, but he does not have the touch or the finesse of the greatest, agrees Philippe Tournon. But when we look at his trajectory, we see that he has honored all the major events. He’s not Maradona, Platini or Zidane, but he’s a striker who always believes in his chances. Thierry Henry for example had a more complete palette and will leave, I think, a more visible trace in history, but when we look at the stats, we will say: ‘ah yes all the same, hats off Olive’“.

During his career with the French team, everything was not rosy for Olivier Giroud. In 2020, Karim Benzema, for example, compared it to a karting when he considered it to be a Formula 1 car. Then in 2021-2022, before the World Cup, it was no longer necessarily part of Didier Deschamps’ lists, who relied more on the Madrid. “He proved the coach right at the time of the controversies with Benzema. It’s not easy when you’re a player not to be unanimous, but he kept a low profile, he’s a hard worker and he silenced a lot of people I say ‘Bravo Monsieur’, for me he is a player who will have left his mark on the French team.”applauds Loïc Rémy.

Finally recalled to the French team for the 2022 World Cup, Olivier Giroud is no longer the indisputable holder in his position, and must fight to obtain playing time, as during this Euro, where he played around an hour on the three group stage matches. “That’s a bit of the story of my career. It wouldn’t be reasonable to sum it up to that, but the periods when I was on the bench at Arsenal and Chelsea, I always knew how to bounce back. ( …). Everyone knows that I think of the team before myself, whatever my role, especially because it’s my last competition, I want to enjoy every moment.”.

He will have already enjoyed his last moments in blue in France, during the last preparation match in Bordeaux against Canada, during which his teammates surprised him by giving him the captain’s armband. Touched by the welcome from the supporters in France “For (her) last match there”, the world champion must also be in Germany, where his name is warmly chanted each time he enters the game. If the collective objective is to win the Euro, one of the rare trophies he is missing, the striker also sets himself one last personal objective before taking charge of Los Angeles FC: “I was told about the round number of 60 goals… Why not?”.