At almost 37 years of age Olivier Giroud continues to be crucial both for his club and his country, but just how does he manage to stay in such good shape?
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Giroud is a candidate to start for France tomorrow night against Ireland given that Didier Deschamps will not be able to call upon the injured Randal Kolo Muani.
There is already a sub-plot to the derby against Inter that will take place after the international break, because Giroud is battling for a spot as the centre-forward against Marcus Thuram, the new Nerazzurri striker and in theory his heir with Les Bleus.
In reality, Deschamps has been evaluating an alternative forward trio for some time, which enhances the natural automatisms between Mbappé and his new PSG teammates, involving Ousmane Dembélé and Kolo Muani.
Nonetheless, the eternal Giroud is a comfort blanket, as can be seen from the latest article dedicated to him by L’Equipe. He has four goals in three Serie A matches at almost 37 years of age, while he scored in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar to knock England out.
Giroud’s secrets are not too radical. He pays a lot of attention to sleep – considered primordial for recovery – as well as nutrition, with a personal chef, and also physical care.
These are all tips shared in the last two seasons during conversations with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his idol with whom he shared a dressing room at Milan, listening to his advice on how to last over time.
Extending muscle strengthening sessions together when all the other team-mates instead went home was one of the things that allowed him to work overtime, especially last season in the absence of a real back-up.
Giroud spoke about his longevity himself: “At a certain point my body will say stop, but for now I seem to be collecting well. So no limits.”
So far he’s been very durable, so knock on wood… Pioli will need to start integrating Jovic in at some point though.
Have no fear Olivier Giroud is here…yes still the best centre forward around ,,,and is still picked to play for club and country..This will be his best season goals wise …so yes let’s hope he remains fit..
But yes we have a very good squad and we will have to integrate all at them at the correct times ,including jovic .