“She is my greatest pride and my most beautiful memory”, Olivier Giroud says goodbye to the French team

L'attaquant n'a pas forcément pu s'exprimer durant l'Euro. EPA – GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

"My greatest pride and my most beautiful memory." French striker Olivier Giroud, top scorer in the history of the Blues, said “farewell to the France team” on Monday.

"The dreaded moment has arrived: that of saying goodbye to the French team", he wrote on his Instagram account on Monday.

Aged 37, Olivier Giroud, who will play for Los Angeles FC next season, announced in May that he would end his international career after the Euro. "We became an inseparable group of friends under the watchful eye of one man: the coach, Didier Deschamps, whom I thank for his trust. Despite our ups and downs, he allowed me to become the top scorer in the history of the Blues with 57 goals in 143 caps", a-t -he stressed on Monday, when he played very little during Euro 2024.

"Forever engraved in my heart"

"My career with the French team has not always been smooth sailing. I doubted sometimes, also suffered from criticism but deep inside, I never stopped believing in it", a- he insisted. Main victim of Karim Benzema's return to the selection just before the Euro in 2021, he lost his starting place then was not called up for the Final Four of the Nations League, won by the Blues in fall 2021.

"This French team that I served for 13 years will remain forever engraved in my heart. It is my greatest pride and my most beautiful memory", assured the player trained in Grenoble. Winner of the World Cup in 2018, finalist in 2022, he came very close to a European title, failing in the final in 2016 at the Stade de France against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal (1-0 a.p.), and was eliminated this year in the semi-final of the Euro by Spain.

Another pillar who is leaving

In addition to the collective trophies, the striker will also leave a mark in the statistics since he erased Thierry Henry from the records, becoming during the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 the record holder for the number of goals scored in the team France.

This feat may not survive the ferocious appetite of Kylian Mbappé, already 3rd in this ranking with 46 goals at only 25 years old. After Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Varane at the end of 2022, it is another pillar of Didier Deschamps' group, crowned world champion in 2018 in Russia, who is leaving the selection.