Football
Mark Rodden 8y

Antoine Griezmann: Booing Olivier Giroud hurts the whole France team

Antoine Griezmann has said that France fans who jeered Olivier Giroud in recent weeks hurt the whole team when they boo the striker.

Giroud, 29, came under fire from a section of the French support during their friendly against Cameroon late last month despite scoring in the 3-2 win.

The Arsenal striker then bagged a brace in a 3-0 victory over Scotland last week to bring his tally to six goals in his last five starts for Les Bleus.

After being backed by France coach Didier Deschamps and feeling the need to defend his own record, Giroud has now received the support of Atletico Madrid attacker Griezmann.

Griezmann, who has agreed a new one-year extension to his deal at Atletico according to L'Equipe, is one of the most popular players in France's squad for Euro 2016.

Speaking to RMC, he said that the French team had been in "a bunker" at their headquarters in Clairefontaine, which meant that they have not felt the weight of expectation building up ahead of the tournament.

"We know that people are asking a lot from us," he said.

"Those who whistled Olivier Giroud weren't hurting only him but also us as well.

"We did everything so that he might score, so that he feels confident with us and he responded on the pitch."

France get their Euro 2016 campaign underway when they play Romania at the Stade de France on Friday.

Griezmann thinks the firepower the host country has at its disposal gives France a strong chance of winning the tournament.

"Offensively we have a very, very rare potential," he said.

"It's rare to have so many quality players who can make the difference.

"The Euros are arriving at the right moment. There are players of experiences like Hugo [Lloris], Patrice [Evra], Bacary [Sagna] and Laurent [Koscielny].

"They've experienced a lot of things and they teach us.

"We young players are carefree so we can enjoy ourselves and play without pressure and I hope that that will be the case."

^ Back to Top ^