"Absolutely nothing was given to him" - Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger heaps praise on France's FIFA World Cup star
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on France's striker Olivier Giroud for his performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The former Arsenal striker, who played under Wenger for six years, started the tournament in prolific fashion. He scored twice in France's 4-1 win over Australia in their opening match on November 22.
Giroud equaled Thierry Henry's record for Les Bleus' all-time top scorer with 51 goals.
Although he was substituted at the hour mark in their 2-1 win over Denmark last night (November 27), Wenger is still impressed by the striker. After the match against the Danes, he said (via GFFN):
“We must kneel before the career that he has had. Absolutely nothing was given to him.”
Giroud has played for the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, and currently AC Milan in his club career. He has scored 105 goals and provided 41 assists in 253 games for the Gunners under Wenger.
He has been in prolific form coming into the FIFA World Cup, having scored nine goals and provided five assists in 19 matches across competitions for AC Milan.
The 36-year-old was still expected to play second fiddle to Karim Benzema before the Real Madrid striker was ruled out of the competition due to an injury.
France became the first team to qualify for the knockout stages of this year's World Cup with a win over Denmark. Giroud will now hope to help them defend their title.
Olivier Giroud equals Henry as France all time topscorer: 51 goals.
He’s still doing incredible also with AC Milan as he scored 22 goals in 55 total apps, winning Serie A title.
Milan invested less than €2m to sign him in 2021. New deal to be discussed soon.
Special player 🇫🇷 https://t.co/b5Ax8PbE8X
Tony Cascarino on Arsenal star Bukayo Saka's performance against the USA at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has criticized England wingers Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling's performance in their draw against the USA on November 25.
The Arsenal man scored a brace in their 6-2 win over Iran in their FIFA World Cup opener on November 21. However, he was rather poor in the goalless draw against the USA, just like Sterling.
No way through for either side.
We pick up a point in our second group game of the @FIFAWorldCup. https://t.co/5atZOcvb25
Speaking about their performances, Cascarino said (via Metro):
"The two wide boys were poor. Sterling one side and Saka I thought probably had his worst game in an England shirt. I felt sorry for him because wingers need the ball early one thing you can’t to is keep passing the ball at the back and then give the winger the ball when he’s basically got the defender on top of him so what’s he going to do?"
He added:
"The next pass is going to backwards or sideways. It was a one-paced performances in many many ways."
England will face Wales on November 29 in their final group-stage game at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.