Arsenal and France striker Olivier Giroud has explained why the French side wanted to play against England on Tuesday night at Wembley, despite terrorist attacks in Paris just days before.
Last Friday, Giroud was part of the France side who were playing against Germany at the Stade de France, when terrorists were targeting the capital. The forward expressed how shocked he was at what happened and thought the trip to Wembley was extremely emotional.
We heard the bombs during the game [in Paris] but I could say that it was not like a normal noise.
You could hear these sometimes in stadiums so it was very bizarre but we kept focused on the game.
It was only at the end of the game that we understood that we had been attacked by terrorists, by looking on the screens and social media. It’s really sad what happened and I have no words for that.
The 29-year-old has spoken out about how grateful for the French are for the respect shown my the England camp on that Tuesday evening and that the team wanted to pay tribute to those fallen by the terrible events back at home.
We felt very concerned about what happened and we wanted to pay tribute to them [against England]. It was a game that French people would watch and we wanted them to be proud of us for the victims.
We wanted to be united, to be one around this game and pay tribute to the victims with the national anthem, the French flags and with the English players it was a very emotional moment.
We could see French flags around other sports and we felt like we had support, especially in Wembley. They played the national anthem on the screen with a French flag so it was a very big emotional moment for us.
Giroud returns to Premier League action with Arsenal this weekend, when the Gunners take on Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns, looking to stretch their unbeaten run and potentially go top of the table.
