He pushed the French team to the 2018 title, without scoring, moved away from his blue house when Didier Deschamps preferred competition, but he elbowed to win again in the blue jersey , on which he dreams of embroidering a new star.

The 36-year-old striker offered mistreated French people the right to still believe in it.

In the 78th minute, he raised his big carcass on a cross from his friend Antoine Griezmann to punish his bodyguard Harry Maguire, caught in the duel in the air.

The angry head of the center-forward of AC Milan is the 14th who ends up in the back of the net in selection.

It brings his total of goals to 53 for the Blues, the fourth of a Qatari World Cup that he embraces with the strength and courage of a last fight.

France team player Olivier Giroud (in blue) scores his team's second goal during the FIFA World Cup quarter-final against England played on December 10, 2022 at Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor (Qatar).

© Jewel SAMAD / AFP

The tall bearded man with the 118th selections never stops stretching his golden history with the Blues, yet started late at age 25 in November 2011, when he was so far from his friends a year ago.

"Olivier has always fought, he has a strong character, he had a sometimes winding road but he always got out of it. He is good in his sneakers and in addition he transmits that to the whole group", complimented assistant coach Guy Stéphan on Tuesday, who has been seeing him for ten years now.

Four and a half years after the coronation of Moscow, "I still find him with a strong character, still just as mobile on the pitch, perhaps with even more mischief", continued the N.2 of the staff, admiring the mind of his attacker.

"Mentality of a young kid"

And to think that in September, his participation in the Qatari World Cup was far from certain … For a year, Didier Deschamps had left him aside whenever Karim Benzema was available.

But the AC Milan striker has made himself indispensable and won his place, once again.

Benzema's package then opened up a boulevard for him towards the starting "eleven".

"Since I was called back, I had a strong desire to show that I was 200% with the France team. The coach gave me this opportunity and I took it," he said. -he slipped at the start of the tournament.

The player of the French football team Olivier Giroud (in blue) during the quarter-final match of the Football World Cup played on December 10, 2022 against England at Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor (Qatar) .

© FRANCK FIFE / AFP

The one that Benzema had compared to a karting put the rubber in Qatar, with an insolent success which was expressed from the start with a double against Australia (4-1).

"Someone wise told me: + we are all twenty years old and the rest is experience +. I play like a twenty-year-old kid, with the mentality of a young kid who has just arrived who is always hungry. For a moment my body will say stop but now it seems to cash in, so zero limit", confided the great N.9 recently.

His rage to win was a pleasure to see after his liberating goal.

At the final whistle, he breathed a big sigh of relief before going dancing with his teammates.

"Even if he didn't score four years ago, he was always important. He had difficult times and today he is rewarded. He has often been criticized, decried, but he has this ability to have this mentality, to be very strong in his head, he never had anything given", said Deschamps after the match against Poland.

The former Arsenal and Chelsea player has hurt the English very badly and still a lot of good for the French.

© 2022 AFP