OLIVIER REWARD
Giroud sets the record straight after ‘hurt’ of being underrated
OLIVIER GIROUD rubs shoulders with the Premier League’s great strikers.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea centre-forward has scored 90 goals in 255 games, which puts him above Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Eden Hazard and even Dennis Bergkamp in the division’s all-time scorers’ list.
He does not always get the respect his remarkable career deserves even though he has won the World Cup with France, the Champions League with Chelsea and three FA Cups with Arsenal.
In each of his six summers at Arsenal there was talk of an upgrade because Giroud was supposedly not good enough to take them to the next level.
“Of course it hurts. I’m a human being, a person with emotions,” he said. “The most important thing is not to pay attention.
“But my record? That’s not bad! I’m very happy with that. The story of my life has been people asking if I think I was a bit underrated. I think it’s also partly because I’m not a centre-forward with the skills that youngsters dream of.
“But I think the most important thing is to be very efficient because, as a striker, you’re judged on statistics – how many goals you score. I’m happy to do the pressing that others don’t do and the s*** others don’t want to do. As a striker, you’ll always be judged on the stats and when I look back I’m so thankful to God that I’m on the pitch enjoying it. He has always been alongside me to help me make the right decisions. “I’ve won so many things that I could never have imagined when I started.When I look back, I’m proud.”
Giroud’s new book, Always Believe, has a fitting title as it reveals how being a Christian gave him faith to never give up when others doubted him.
His career is littered with setbacks, from being dumped by his first club Grenoble to leaving Arsenal and Chelsea to chase more game time with AC Milan in Italy. He left Arsenal to join Chelsea, won the FA Cup again and did enough to earn a place in France’s World Cup squad. They won the trophy two years after losing the Euros final on home soil. He thinks there is symmetry with England also losing the Euros final and now going for glory in Qatar next year. Paul Pogba gave the French a pre-final team talk, telling them they could not suffer the heartbreak of the Euros again. “That was part of our success because we had to remember the pain,” recalled Giroud. “I couldn’t be happier than to come back and win the World Cup.
“You always have to learn from painful moments. I loved the sentence from Nelson Mandela when he said, ‘Don’t judge me on my success, judge me on how many times I got back up.’
More words from another ex-team-mate, Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, also stuck with him after World Cup glory. Rudiger told him: “Olivier, 2018 World Cup winner. No-one can ever take that away from you.” ●Always Believe by Olivier Giroud is out now from Pitch Publishing, priced £19.99.