Olivier Giroud continues to perform at the highest level despite being in his late 30s, and there are various keys to having had such a long career.
Against Roma, Olivier Giroud hit 10 league goals for the season reaching double figures with Milan for the third year in a row. The last player to do that, before the curse of the No.9 and a series of failed strikers, was Alexandre Pato.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have analysed the secrets of Giroud, who was born on 30 September 1986, a handful of months after the Chernobyl disaster and a handful of days before the handshake between Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik which took steps towards ending the Cold War.
Olivier is a striker from another era. He arrived at San Siro with a CV that listed a World Cup win in which he played in every game and a series of trophies between Arsenal, Chelsea and Montpellier.
The day he introduced himself to his fans he made a promise: “I will break the curse of the number nine.” The one that over the years has weakened Piatek, André Silva and many others but not him.
The rest is a story of goals and special diets, because behind the Frenchman’s Benjamin Button seasons there is the assist of his brother Romain, who has been taking care of his diet for some time.
Giroud revealed his diet in an interview with Le Parisien conducted a couple of years ago. For breakfast he chooses between an egg white omelette, a sandwich with strawberry jam or toast with scrambled eggs.
For lunch it varies between chicken salad, green beans, rice and salmon, tuna or pasta. Finally, for dinner, fish and broccoli, or perhaps chicken with vegetables. Not to mention the snack of cereals and dried fruit.
The warrior’s secret is a balanced diet drawn up by those who love him. It can be said that Giroud has made his brother’s dream come true, given he was a footballer too at Auxerre and with the French youth national teams before becoming a dietician.
The two don’t talk every day, but the relationship is solid. Last year Romain recorded a video message for his brother and he was moved: “I never told you, but you achieved what I couldn’t do. You make my life a rainbow, I’m proud of you.”
