Former France international Yannick Stopyra is delighted to see Olivier Giroud succeed in the national team despite all the constant criticism driven towards him.

Giroud scored in France’s 4-1 win over Moldova and equalled former striker David Trezeguet's tally of international goals with 34 strikes to become the third highest scorer for his country.




Didier Deschamps’ decision to include the striker in the France squad did come in for criticism as he overlooked more in-form strikers in Alexandre Lacazette and Wissam Ben Yedder in favour of Giroud, who has not been playing regular football at Chelsea.

However, the striker repaid the coach’s trust with the goal and Stopyra believes that the veteran Chelsea man deserves admiration for his international record.
 


The former France international loves Giroud’s attitude towards playing for Les Bleus despite facing all the brickbats for some of his performances.

Stopyra told French sports daily L’Equipe: “In today’s football we can only say well done to someone who has scored so many goals for France.
 

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“He is constantly criticised, but he keeps a good spirit and is always available.”

Giroud is seven goals short of Michel Platini’s haul of 41 goals for France and 14 short of their all-time goalscorer Thierry Henry, who scored 51 times in Les Bleus colours.