Key milestones of the Ivory Coast national football team
FootballAC Milan Striker Sends Lovely Message To His Children After Scoring on France Return
- Former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud was back to scoring for the French national team
- The AC Milan forward was on target for France as they defeated Ivory Coast in an international friendly
- Giroud was a late replacement for the injured Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema and scored to close in on Thierry Henry's France record
Olivier Giroud returned to the France national team after he received a late call up from manager Didier Deschamps as replacement for Karim Benzema ahead of the friendlies against Ivory Coast and South Africa.
The world champions have already qualified for the World Cup and lined up the two African countries for preparatory games.
In the first of the two games, which was played last Friday, the AC Milan star scored as France came from a goal down to beat Ivory 2-1 at the Stade de Velodrome.
Despite getting the applause for his performance, the ex-Arsenal man took to social media to celebrate his kids as his greatest supporters.
"The atmosphere was amazing at the Velodrome but I think I have the best supporters at home," he posted on Instagram with a photo of his kids watching him.
Ivory Coast got off to a great start after Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe broke the game's deadlock in the 19th minute, but Giroud leveled three minutes later.
AS Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni netted the winner late as France continued their good run since losing to Switzerland at Euro 2020.
Olivier Giroud closes in on Thierry Henry's France record
After netting the leveler in the game against Ivory, the 35-year-old is five goals away from beating Henry's all time goal scoring record for France.
Olivier Giroud rose high to meet a cross from AC Milan teammate Theo Hernandez to cancel Nicolas Pepe strike and get his 47th goal for Les Bleu.
Henry has scored 51 goals for the French national team.
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FootballOlivier Giroud makes stunning statement about Benzema
Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Olivier Giroud has opened fresh wound on the return of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema to the France national team with the former Chelsea star claiming that it caused imbalance in the squad.
Before Karim Benzema was brought back to the French national team, Olivier Giroud had the chance to shine and the former Arsenal striker helped the team to win the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
But before France's campaign at the EURO 2020 where they failed to reach the final, there were calls for Karim Benzema to return to the team and the coach Deschamps called him.