Model of altruism, self-denial and longevity, Olivier Giroud changed in his “pre-retirement” last summer, by taking his bow to the French team during Euro 2024 before joining the Los Angeles FC, where his friend 2018 world champion Hugo Lloris was already playing. At 38, the attacker from Isère has a lot of trouble shining in MLS, a championship that has physically experiencing. He has still not opened his goal counter since last September (13 matches, only one assist).
Giroud left European football with a crowded club record. The 2012 French champion with Montpellier and Italian 2022 champion with AC Milan has never won Premier League, in six seasons with Arsenal and three years in Chelsea. He raised the FA Cup three times with the Gunners (2014, 2015 and 2017) and once with the Blues (2018) but above all won two European cups with his second London, the Europa League in 2019 and the Champions League in 2021.
In the C3 final, Olivier Giroud even scored against Arsenal, opening the scoring against his former teammates during a 4-1 success. During the Chelsea coronation in C1, with Thomas Tuchel on the bench, the former French international did not come into play during the final against Manchester City (1-0, goal of Kai Havertz before half-time) but had scored a quadruple in the group phase and had been decisive in particular in the round of 16 against Atlético.
Giroud against Chelsea?
With the LAFC, Giroud has a little chance of finding Chelsea! The Californian club is indeed one of the clubs expected to replace Léon, the Mexican training which was disqualified by FIFA for the next World Cup of clubs organized in the United States, from June 14 to July 13. Léon was in the running as winner of the Concacaf Champions League in 2023, but belongs to the same group as Pachuca, another qualified from the World Cup. The finalist defeated in 2023 could therefore be drafted: Los Angeles FC!
The international body, which had planned to qualify the last four winners of the North American C1, will return its verdict in a few days. The sesame for this very lucrative club world could be given to the winner of the Concacaf Champions League 2021, namely the tigers of André-Pierre Gignac (who had scored the goal of victory in the 84th minute against … Lafc!), Or to the best team in the classification of Concacaf clubs, the American club. Flamengo and Hope of Tunis are the other two clubs in group D.
