France coach Didier Deschamps believes Olivier Giroud’s performance against Moldova on Thursday night showed just why he keeps getting into the national team despite playing very little football at Chelsea.
Giroud converted a penalty in the 79th minute to spare France’s blushes and earned them a win over European minnows Moldova in a European Championship qualifier.
The Frenchman has scored in each of the five European Championship qualifiers for France and has seven goals in his last ten appearances for Les Bleus.
Giroud has mostly been a spectator at Chelsea while warming the bench behind Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi this season.
But Deschamps has continued to put his faith in the striker and has been selecting him despite his lack of game time at Stamford Bridge.
And he believes Giroud showed against Moldova why he has continued to put faith in the out-of-favour Chelsea striker with his performance in the European Championship qualifier.
Deschamps was quoted as saying by French sports daily L’Equipe: “He is useful and indispensable. He is very effective too.
“There he made the decision to take the penalty. He creates goalscoring opportunities for players around him too.
“It also explains why he stays in our squad despite his playing time at Chelsea.”
Giroud is the third-highest goalscorer in France’s history with 38 strikes, only behind Michel Platini and Thierry Henry.
