June 09, (THEWILL)- On Tuesday, French forward Olivier Giroud, fresh off the new contract sealed with UEFA Champions League winners, Chelsea, and gave those watching an inkling of why the Blues’ manager Thomas Tuchel and the Chelsea team continue to repose confidence in his abilities even though he had not had as much play time as he used to previously.
The striker came off the bench to score twice for the French team as they beat Bulgaria 3-0 in their final friendly match before they head off to the continental challenge of the rescheduled Euros 2020. But, his introduction was a mixed bag for the French squad as it came at the expense of a knock worry for returning striker Karim Benzema.
It was Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann that opened the scoring for Les Bleus midway through the first half with a sumptuous but deflected bicycle kick that eventually nestled the ball in the net.
That was before the 41st minute when Benzema, in his first official game after being recalled to the squad after more than five years in the international wilderness, had to be replaced by the eventual man of the match, Giroud.
The Chelsea man took full advantage of his inclusion to fire in a brace that first doubled France’s goal margin and topped it off with another in the last 10 minutes to put a gloss on the scoreline for Didier Deschamps side. It was an emphatic statement of staking a claim to win back his place in France’s starting lineup.
Giroud’s lack of regular feature in Tuchel’s Blues’ team necessitated the recall of Benzema, who had another splendid season at Real Madrid. Yet, as fortune had it, Giroud maximised his chance to give Deschamps a selection dilemma in the final third portion of his squad list. The coach will have to decide who features among Giroud, Benzema and Kylian Mbappe.
Deschamps cannot overlook one of his team’s best performers nor gloss over the impact of Giroud in the French team. The brace constituted his 45th and 46th goals for Les Bleus. At 46 goals, he is only five removed from France’s all-time scoring record held by the French football icon Thierry Henry.
Fortunately for France, Benzema’s knock was nothing deleterious. As Deschamps noted in his post-match remarks: “It was a pretty big knock and we didn’t have to take any risks. It wasn’t a muscle injury or nothing with the ligaments. We have great doctors and we’ll do what we have to do, right now there are no problems with the injury, he will improve with time and it’s not a big deal. We didn’t want risks and that’s why we made the substitution.”
It means Benzema should be ready to face Germany on June 15th, France’s debut game in the Euro. In the space of time before that, the Real forward will likely get some rest for a few days so that he is able to be in great condition when the tournament kicks off to mix up the striking partnership with either or both of Giroud and Mbappe.
The manager will consider in-form strikers a good headache to have.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
