Simon Kjaer has revealed that he is far from happy at being forced to miss Denmark’s defeat against France over the weekend, adding that Olivier Giroud’s renewal should be a formality.
It has been a mixed World Cup for Kjaer so far, who is still the captain of the Danish national team who are at their first major tournament since the Euros when the Christian Eriksen incident rocked the footballing world.
Kjaer’s anterior cruciate ligament had to be rebuilt and the medial collateral surgically reinserted after an injury sustained against Genoa last December. He is back from that, but the concern now is a muscle problem that made him miss the match with France and leaves him in doubt for Denmark-Australia, a play-off of sorts.
He spoke live from Qatar during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport who caught up with the 33-year-old to discuss his current condition and the Danes’ 2-1 defeat against France.
First of all, how’s it going?
“I’m not well, against France I wasn’t ready to play 90 minutes. Our coach made the right decision, I couldn’t have helped.”
Now you depend, at least a little, on France. Did you talk about that with Giroud after the game?
“Yes, I congratulated him on his 51st international goal, a huge number, and asked him to score another in the next match so he can help us qualify.”
Giroud against Denmark was harmless. Theo Hernandez on the other hand…
“Theo is crazy, a great player. I honestly look around me and I don’t see many like him in the world, in his position. Theo has running, physique, shooting, he can do many things on the pitch. He’s like few others.”
Milan fans fear that one day a club will arrive with a huge bid for Theo and… goodbye Italy!
“I don’t really know where Theo will be in five years but I’m curious to know. I want to see who he will play with. Of course, I hope he’s still with us.”
And Giroud? Have you talked about his renewal?
“We haven’t talked about it but come on, I really think Olivier will stay with us next season as well.”
In the round of 16, do you want Argentina or better not?
“I don’t think about it, now we just have to focus on Australia and beat them. That’s enough.”
What is it like playing against Kylian Mbappe?
“Honestly, it’s incredible. Mbappé is a phenomenon and has a team that works for him: everyone runs, he sometimes stops, waits and starts again. And when he starts again, it always hurts. He has a speed that I, in many years career, I’ve never seen anyone have.”
Oh Theo definitely gonna leave Milan either next season or 2025. Madrid, PSG, or City gonna come and throw big money that Milan can’t refuse.