Olivier Giroud sets another record before bidding farewell to France

Subbed on in France’s friendly 3-0 win against Luxembourg on Wednesday night, Olivier Giroud (37) set a new record with Les Bleus, becoming the oldest player to participate in a game with the two-time world champions.

As he prepares to dispute his last competition with France before retiring from international football this summer, Giroud will go down in the history of the French National Team as he broke numerous records through the years, despite all the difficulties and criticism he has faced. The soon-to-be Los Angeles Football Club striker became the oldest player (37 years and 249 days) to wear Les Bleus jersey yesterday, outdoing Steve Mandanda’s precedent record of 37 years old, nine months, and five days. 

A last competition to shine and go down in history 

Coming out of his best season with AC Milan, in which he scored 17 goals and delivered nine assists in 47 games, Giroud is ageing like fine wine and could have a role to play in the upcoming Euros, which will be his last competition with France. A last opportunity to increase the gap as the top scorer in France’s history, with 57 goals on his tally.

If the former Arsenal and Chelsea striker is likely to stay behind Marcus Thuram in Didier Deschamp’s pecking order, he could still fulfil his role of standout substitute and bring his clinical touch, as he did back in November when France made history by trashing Gibraltar 14-0 in Nice, while Giroud became the oldest ever scorer in Les Bleus’ history.

GFFN | Grégoire Devaux