Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines (France) (AFP)
He remains unstoppable in Blue despite a complicated season with Chelsea. At 32, Olivier Giroud, accustomed to constantly having to prove his legitimacy, now welcomes critics with detachment.
"It is not necessary that it stops (the critics, ed), otherwise I will fall asleep on my laurels", declares the striker of the Equipe de France with a smile. "Having to show again and again is part of my career," he adds. Especially this season, it seems ...
Even if it had started with a title of world champion and that ended with the trophy in Europa League, Olivier Giroud indeed lived a paradoxical season.
"It's obvious that I did not have much time in the league, it's not something that I was thrilled about," he admitted at a press conference a few days ago to face the Turkey with the Blues in qualifying match for the Euro-2020.
Often relegated to the bench in the Premier League, he saw a crowned competitor disembark this winter, in the person of Gonzalo Higuain. But he still retained his place in the Europa League, with an insolent success.
The arrival of Higuain? "It was not easy to cash in. But as usual, I tried to stay the course (...) and prove to the coach that he was wrong on certain choices," he said. he.
Top scorer of the 2019 edition, he was especially the detonator of the final against Arsenal, opening the score of a header. And in May, when he was announced on the start because at the end of the contract, he finally extended a season with Chelsea.
"When we bring a player in January, it's difficult to put him back on the bench and to disavow," analyzes this eternal revenge. "Gonzalo played in the league and me in the European Cup, but in the end we finish third in the championship, and the trophy comes from Europe, so it's a great story."
- "I'm doing my job" -
If the confidence of Maurizio Sarri in club has flopped at times, that of Didier Deschamps does not seem to falter.
The coach of the Blues, with whom he is very complicit, continues to praise his qualities of fighter, first defender and his "specific game of support", as he recalled Saturday.
And even if he still hangs over the fact of not having scored any goal at the World Cup in Russia, his place of N.9 in the French attack does not seem threatened.
Especially as Kylian Mbappé, positioned in front center on Sunday against Bolivia (2-0), did not really score in this position, before his replacement on injury at halftime.
"The competition is something important to continue to move forward," however ensures the top scorer in activity of the Blues (35 goals). "It has served me throughout my career, I do my job and the coach makes his choices."
A year from the Euro, Olivier Giroud will be hard to dislodge in Blue. And he stands ready to face all the comments about him. "I'm not expecting anything from the public opinion about myself, I'm focusing on what I have to do, what do we say, I leave them out," says -t it.
? 2019 AFP