What a game! What a result for Arsenal, and what a brilliant night for Olivier Giroud to score his first ever top flight hat-trick. It doesn’t matter how many times he gets knocked down by the critics he gets straight back up again.
He has always been considered to be a confidence player, and he has been known to hang his head when things don’t go right for him, but after tonight I dare anyone to say he is not a top-class striker. And he spurned the chance to be big-headed after the game and rightly thought of Arsenal and his team-mates and only looked at how far the team can go in this confident mood.
“It’s fantastic for me and for the team. We are really pleased. It’s nice to go through because we were not in a good position and finally we have done it. We feel relieved tonight,” Giroud was quoted as saying to the BBC.
“In the Champions League it’s one level up and we need to be all focused. As a unit, together, good cohesion, defending well and finishing well. It’s nice for us. It was not so easy in this stadium with this atmosphere and we are really pleased to have done it.
“We want to go as far as we can. The target is to maybe reach at least the quarter final. It’s the fourth year I’m here and we have never played a quarter final. We will have a good rest and open the new page of the Champions League in February.”
I don’t think Giroud can worry too much about being criticized in the future and if he does he can just remember this night and ignore what anyone says. The fact is that if the team carries on in this excellent form, and Giroud carries on banging in the goals, there is no reason why we can’t go MUCH further than the quarter finals.
A fantastic night for Arsena, their fans, and especially Giroud, Giroud, Girouuuud!