DBasia.news – Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud was again able to prove his best quality when given the opportunity to play in the Champions League.
The former Arsenal player was able to become the sole hero of Chelsea’s victory when he silenced Atletico Madrid’s resistance in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday (24/2/2021).
A captivating goal through a superb flip from Giroud was able to make Chelsea win a goal without reply at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
The narrow victory made Chelsea an advantage because they had an away goal and will play as hosts in the second meeting.
Responding to the excellent performance shown by Giroud, Thomas Tuchel as the coach did not hesitate to give sky-high praise.
One of the main things that Tuchel praised was due to the professionalism that Giroud has with the team.
Although not infrequently appearing in matches and mostly warming up the bench.
Giroud’s professionalism can be seen when he is always ready to give his best contribution when he is trusted to be on the field.
That attitude of professionalism made Tuchel amazed and felt he had a player like Giroud in a row.
“If you see him every day, you will not be surprised, he is really fit, physically at the top level,” said Tuchel to Giroud as reported by Sportskeeda.
“Mentally, I really feel he is able to enjoy every day being a professional footballer in this, he is at the level that is needed.”
Furthermore, an unexpected follow-up comment was made by Tuchel when he considered Giroud to be 20 years old when he was carrying out a team training session.
Tuchel sees Giroud able to mix well the seriousness and joy in a team.
“He’s training like 20 years, like 24 years too, he’s a guy who has a good mix of seriousness and joy in training,” said Tuchel.
“He is always positive and that is an important factor in a team.”
“When he started playing, he came off the bench, he had all those qualities and of course very good,” he said.
Although he rarely appears as a starter in Chelsea matches this season. However, Giroud seems to always be able to answer the coach’s trust in an extraordinary way on the field when he is trusted to play.
The score of 11 goals in 22 matches played is a testament to Giroud’s outstanding performance both as a starter and as a substitute.
Giroud’s name is surprisingly also currently in second place in the temporary top scorer list of the Champions League.
The French national team player has scored the same number of goals as Neymar, Alvaro Morata, Marcus Rashford. He was only two goals behind Erling Haaland, who topped the top score with a collection of 8 goals.