A monument of the Blues will go away. Top scorer in the history of the France team, Olivier Giroud has decided to retire internationally at the end of Euro-2024, the end of his adventure in the selection of which he was one of the essential players for more than ten years.
After Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Varane at the end of 2022, it is another pillar of Didier Deschamps’ group, crowned world champion in 2018 in Russia, who will say goodbye to the Tricolores. The indestructible 37-year-old striker, who will play for Los Angeles FC next season after three years at AC Milan, made it official in an interview with L’Equipe published on Friday.
“Being honest, you have to say to yourself that this will be my last competition with the France team. Obviously, I will miss it a lot. But I think that with the Blues, it will be over after the Euro. We have to let the place for young people”, explained the former Arsenal player (2012-2018), who had experienced the first of his 131 caps in November 2011 against the United States (1-0), under the era of the coach Laurent Blanc.
Even if he admits to “still having two good years” in his legs, the former Montpellier center forward, crowned French champion in 2012, believes that “the weight of the years is starting to be felt”.
“I thought about it carefully. Playing every three days is more and more complicated, especially at this level,” indicates the No.9 of the Blues.
– One title, two finals –
The French team will therefore have to learn to live without an element whose exploits or setbacks will have marked the Deschamps era, which began in 2012. Barred upon his arrival by Karim Benzema, Giroud was able to take advantage of the gradual distancing of his rival after the outbreak of the sex tape affair to establish himself at the forefront of the attack and build an impressive track record. Winner of the World Cup in 2018, finalist in 2022, he came very close to a European title, failing in the final in 2016 at the Stade de France against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal (1-0 after).
In addition to the collective trophies, the player trained in Grenoble will also leave a mark in the statistics since he erased Thierry Henry from the shelves, becoming during the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 the record holder for the number of goals -57- scored as a team of France.
This feat, however, risks not surviving the ferocious appetite of Kylian Mbappé, already 3rd in this ranking with 46 achievements at only 25 years old – the age at which the Grenoblois had his first cap -, but it allows us to situate the weight of Giroud in the recent successes of the Blues.
– Always an option –
However, everything has not been rosy for the attacker in the selection. Main victim of Benzema’s return just before the Euro in 2021, he lost his starting place before not being called up for the Final Four of the Nations League, won by the Blues in the fall of 2021.
But we must never bury Olivier Giroud too quickly… Benzema’s physical problems just before the World Cup in Qatar will put him back in the saddle and it is once again in the shoes of a starter that he will compete in this competition, registering four goals.
Since this Qatari campaign, which ended frustratingly in the final on penalties against Lionel Messi’s Argentina (3-3 ap 4 tab to 2), no center forward has really managed to make him forget, except this either Randal Kolo Muani or Marcus Thuram, and Giroud still remains an option not to be overlooked in attack.
“I looked at the list with a lot of serenity. Afterwards, there is still competition, the coach has several strings to his bow with different profiles (…). It’s really the desire to go as far as possible with this generation which inspires me If I win, apart from the Premier League which is very difficult to win, I will be able to say that I have won everything”, he said in the columns of L. ‘Equipe, adding that the 60-goal mark for the national team was “not an obsession.”
The one who says he is not “out of step” with the new generation, therefore refuses to approach the Euro, which will be held from June 14 to July 14, only in the shoes of a big brother. Given the difficulties of his rivals in taking over in attack, he will undoubtedly still have an important role to play in Germany. One last time.
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