At the age of 38, he was still the "Great Giroud" who flew against the wind

In the first round of the 2025 Club World Cup Group D group stage, Premier League giant Chelsea met with the local club Los Angeles, a UEFA club. The results of the game were calm, and Chelsea won steadily 2-0, but the fans were crying that in a foreign land, Chelsea welcomed their "old friends".

Four years ago, Giroud, who was 34 years old, won the Champions League championship with Chelsea; four years later, Giroud, who was already 38, made his first appearance on the stage of the Club World Cup, but it was a counterattack on his old boss.

The "Great Giroud" who loves to laugh in the first show of the Club World Cup, also has some humorous attributes. Facing Chelsea's game, at the beginning of the second half, he was preparing to appear on the bench, but he had only a blank jersey with no name or number, so that his teammates had to run back to the locker room to retrieve his jersey, which delayed the game. In the first half, Los Angeles FC made intensive defense, but in the 34th minute, Chelsea forward Pedro Neto's low shot into the penalty area still penetrated the Los Angeles defense line. Los Angeles replaced Giroud with the goal of clearly taking advantage of the veteran's understanding of his old club to improve the team's attacking firepower. However, in the limited time in the second half, although he was active in the opponent's penalty area, Giroud actually had not many opportunities. He failed to make an effective shot to help the team narrow the gap. Instead, Chelsea's substitute Enzo Fernandez scored another goal in the second half and secured the victory 2-0. The imperfect Club World Cup debut of "Kart" flying against the wind seems like a microcosm of Giroud's career. He doesn't have the halo of the protagonist, but he makes himself the protagonist of his life. He was never considered a talented player. He started to officially receive football training at the age of 13. He has been ups and downs in French Ligue 2 or even French C before the age of 24. When he joined Arsenal as the Ligue 1 Golden Boot at the age of 26, he was not favored by fans. But he "slapped" everyone in the face with his actions. In the five and a half seasons at Arsenal, he played 253 times for the Gunners, scoring 105 goals, and one fairy ball after another helped the team win 3 FA Cup championships and 3 community shield championships, saving the falling giants from the abyss of "no crowns".

He has been in the old age and has gradually lost his main identity. But even so, in his first season at Chelsea, he won the Europa League Golden Boot with 11 goals, helping the team win the Europa League championship; and in the last season of the "Blue Army", he was gradually marginalized, even though he didn't have many opportunities to play in the Champions League, he still seized the limited time to face Sevilla to achieve a big four-game, leaving behind a famous scene of barbing Atletico Madrid. In the summer transfer in 2021, Giroud was sold to Milan by Chelsea at a "bad price". He regained his second spring in San Siro and became a red and black hero who helped Milan win the championship again after 11 years.

Former national teammate Benzema once teased Giroud that he was an F1 car and Giroud was just a kart. However, it was this hard-working "kart" that was heading against the wind on the World Cup stage and was the first to hit the line. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he played a tactical role that could not be measured by data, becoming an irreplaceable championship fulcrum in the penalty area; and when he retired from the national team in 2024, he had surpassed the legend Henry of that year and was awarded the scorer king in the history of the French team.

and left a late photo to Huajian. He transferred to the American League in the summer window of 2024 and joined Los Angeles. He once faded out of the public's vision. He was even questioned by reporters as "one of the worst signings for the American League in the past decade" due to his 164-day goal drought, and gradually lost his main position in the American League. But just like during Chelsea and Milan, even if playing time is limited and competitive level declines, he is still the Giroud who will prove himself with the opportunity. On June 1, in the Club World Cup qualifying play-off, facing the American Club in Mexico, he appeared as a substitute in the second half at the end of the overtime tournament, and used a beautiful goal to give a clever assist in the penalty area to help the team defeat their opponents and also made this ticket to the Club World Cup for himself.

Four years ago, he failed to stand on the highest podium of the Club World Cup with his teammates after winning the Champions League, which became his eternal regret; four years later, when he met his old club again, everything changed. From the boss to the head coach, and even the club staff, they were no longer the team of the past; among the players who were teammates with him, only James and Charoba were still in the team, and the former young player James was the captain of the field in this game.

Next, Los Angeles FC will face two clubs, Tunisia Hope and Brazil Flamengo. If they can score good points, they are still expected to advance to the knockout stage, and Giroud's Club World Cup journey is also expected to go further.