Football
Mark Rodden 8y

Olivier Giroud bemused by France fans booing him ahead of Euro 2016

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has said he finds it hard to understand why some France fans jeered him during their 3-2 victory over Cameroon on Monday.

Giroud, 29, got France's second goal in the friendly win in Nantes as the Euro 2016 hosts stepped up their preparations for next month's tournament.

The former Montpellier forward's strike from a wonderful Paul Pogba cross was his fifth in his last four starts for his country.

Before the game, however, Giroud's name was jeered by some in the crowd and they continued to grumble about him at various stages throughout the match.

"It's a shame," Giroud told reporters after the game. "Playing for France, even when you miss a chance, you're expecting applause and encouragement. They're also there for that. I don't understand it too much but it won't stop me from sleeping."

It is not the first time that Giroud has received such treatment but after scoring his 15th international goal he feels that the latest round of heckling was partly due to Karim Benzema's absence.

Real Madrid striker Benzema, 28, was left out of France's Euro 2016 squad for off-field issues and Giroud feels that both he and Andre-Pierre Gignac have big boots to fill in the eyes of some supporters.

"It's maybe linked to that -- you shouldn't bury your head in the sand," Giroud said. "I talked about it with Dede [Gignac]. We're going to be targeted. You have to be honest. I don't know if there would have been whistles if he was there."

Many fans backed Giroud as well but he says he will not be focusing on the reception he gets in the stands.

"I'll never be to everybody's liking and I have no problems with that," Giroud said. "The main thing is to help the team to win and to score as many goals as possible. There'll be huge expectation during the Euros so I'm concentrating on what I have to do."

Meanwhile, France boss Didier Deschamps said he is unconcerned by his side's leaky defence despite admitting that "not everything was perfect" against Cameroon.

France have won their last three friendly matches but have now conceded two goals in each of their last four games.

Called up to replace injured Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane and playing alongside Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny, Sevilla's Adil Rami looked particularly shaky at the back against Cameroon.

But Deschamps pointed out that Romania, France's first opponents at Euro 2016, had lost 4-3 to Ukraine last weekend while world champions Germany were beaten 3-1 at home to Slovakia.

"They're preparatory matches," Deschamps told reporters. "Romania conceded four. That doesn't mean that they don't know how to defend all of a sudden.

"Germany lost but that won't prevent them from starting the competition with the aim of winning it. If we always remain capable of scoring one goal more [than the other team] then the essential is there.

"We had the ability to put the opponent in difficulty because you shouldn't forget that this evening the Cameroon goalkeeper made four or five miraculous saves... I don't want to prevent the team from going forward and it should go forward.

"Technically and in terms of precision obviously we can improve but the attitude is there. Even if we haven't had competitive matches until now, every time that the opponent is there and we need to hit the accelerator we do so."

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