Olivier Giroud: France's under-appreciated World Cup hero
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema sparked a storm last week on an Instagram live chat with his comments when asked to compared himself with fellow French striker Olivier Giroud. The 32-year-old was quoted as saying:
"You can’t confuse an F1 car with a go-kart and I’m being kind. ‘I know I’m a Formula 1 car. It works because he’s there, that’s it. It’s not going to be spectacular."
The following day Benzema even defended the comments in a post on his official Twitter account. In a short video, he referred to his praise of Giroud's role for the French national team but claimed he was "only speaking the truth."
For Benzema, to rate himself so highly is not surprising. The fact that he has led the line for Real Madrid for over a decade is a testament to his outstanding qualities. With 242 goals for the club, he is sixth in the list of highest goal scorers in Los Blancos history.
Additionally, he is joint fourth in the Champions League's all-time top scorers list, tied with Robert Lewandowski on 64 goals. Benzema was a regular starter in each season during Real's unbelievable feat of winning the Champions League four times in five seasons, thus exhibiting that he is among the best in the world.
One man's loss is...
However, his story with the French national team has not been as rosy. After some off-the-field incidents involving teammates, Benzema has not featured for the French national team for ages. His last appearance for the national team came almost five years ago. At the moment, it looks increasingly unlikely that he will feature for Les Bleus again. It seems clear from the attitude of the French team and certain officials that the world champions have washed their hands of the star striker.
No one has benefited more from this situation than Olivier Giroud.This situation, along with Didier Deschamps's trust in him, allowed Giroud to be the starting striker in France's run to the Euro 2016 final and the 2018 World Cup win.
While a lot was made of his inability to score a goal in the tournament, he still played a very important role in helping Les Blues lift the Cup. While the plaudits went to Kylian Mbappe and Antonio Griezmann, the impact duo's achievements were possible due to someone like Giroud playing in front of them.
The Chelsea strikers' hold-up play was critical in allowing both to have the space to attack in the final third. Having someone that kept the center-backs occupied allowed them to take up positions near the goal and cause damage in central areas.
Giroud's presence also gave Paul Pogba the license to bomb forward into dangerous positions from midfield. Moreover, his link-up play and ability to perform quiet interchanges were other important factors in France being able to cause problems for opposition defenders. Giroud's importance to the team was expressed by Everton defender Djibril Sidibe, who was a part of the World Cup-winning team. He was quoted as saying to RMC in a recent interview that:
I don’t think France would have won the World Cup if Olivier Giroud had not been in the team with what he brought, defensively and offensively, in the support he provided, in his chemistry with Kylian (Mbappé) and Antoine (Griezmann) and above all because Olivier has the experience, he has been in the team for a long time. Plus we know that when someone has to be physical, Olivier is there and it allows Kylian or Coman to make runs or Dembélé, all the players who have other qualities.
Away from the limelight
It's worth noticing that the only game that Giroud did not start was the opening encounter against Australia. One should remember France struggled to have any sort of momentum in that match and it was only Giroud's entry from the bench that changed the game. Ultimately, he set up Pogba whose shot was deflected into the goal for the winner.
Being unappreciated has become a trait of Giroud's career. His spell at Arsenal divided opinions and at times he came under heavy criticism from fans and media. During Arsenal's quest for the title in the 2015-16 season, a lot of blame was laid on him for the Gunners' failure to cross the line.
While the criticism might have been justified, the club's fortunes have only got worse since the French striker left the club. In fact, the North London club have only won three FA Cups in the last 15 years. All of them came during Giroud's stint at the club. In all these victories the experienced striker played an important role. He even provided the assist for the winning goals in the 2014 and 2017 final.
Later, he has gone to become an important player for Chelsea and played an integral role in the trophies the club have won in the last two years.
Be it finding the net with a spectacular effort in the semi-final and putting in a solid shift against Manchester United in the final in the FA Cup 2018. Or be it being the Europa league top-scorer in 2019, including scoring the opening goal in the 4-1 rout of Arsenal in the final, the 33-year-old has played an instrumental role for the Blues.
Even before his stints in England, Giroud played an influential role in French football. In the 2011-12 season, he was the star of Montpellier's title win which remains the club's only Ligue 1 victory in history. With a tally of 21 goals in the league, he shared the golden boot with PSG's Nene.
Above everything, Giroud is third in the list of France's all-time top scorers. With only two goals separating him and Michel Platini, the 33-year-old will likely end his career as the second-highest scorer in his country's history. Doing that for a nation with a football heritage as rich as France is a significant achievement.
Quite evidently, Giroud is someone who has played a crucial role in lifting multiple teams to glory. While his playing attributes can be talked about and dissected, his winning mentality is there for everyone to see. The fact that his presence makes the team and players around him play better Is hardly deniable. For example, Eden Hazard's best performances came when he was playing behind Giroud last season. The Belgian even described his fondness of playing alongside him saying:
“Olivier’s a target man, maybe the best in the world; I think so. When he gets the ball he can hold the ball and we can go in deep with him, so for us it’s a pleasure to play with him.
A team player to the core
It's true that when the list of this generation's greatest strikers is made, Giroud's name will not be up for debate. Without a doubt, the likes of Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, and even Benzema are a league above him individually. However, not every player has to be the best in a team game.
Sometimes, you need hard-working players who uplift the team's performances without making the headlines. His professionalism and will to fight for his place, despite not always being the first name on the manager's team sheet, are also nothing short of admirable.
These qualities are important in building successful teams and deserve to be appreciated. The fact that all of Giroud's teammates speak highly of him underscores his intrinsic value to the squads he has been a part of. Giroud name is bound to go down in history for that reason alone.