Interview

‘Giroud told me on the touchline that he’d score!’

He’s done it again.

Olivier Giroud scored another unforgettable goal to add to his growing collection as we beat Red Star Belgrade on Thursday.

Arsene Wenger faced the media following the win and had this to say about the France international’s strike.

on Giroud’s goal…

Well at some stage he came to the touchline and told me he would score. I don’t know [how he knew but] that’s certainly no more than I did, but I think that’s Olivier Giroud - he keeps belief when it’s tough and that’s why maybe he scores as well at moments you don’t necessarily expect him to score.

on Debuchy…

I am pleased for him because he survived 90 minutes without any setback, he had only played one half in the under-23s on Monday night and overall he had a positive performance for someone who has been out for such a long time.

on the younger players…

I agree with you not only in their performance, but they showed character as well, it’s not easy to express yourself at 18 years of age. To play in such a heated atmosphere shows how much resilience to stress [they have], which is an important quality at our level.