Olivier Giroud has opened up about the time Chelsea won the Europa League in May 2019 – that too against his old club Arsenal.
Giroud was with Arsenal from 2012 – 2018 before joining Chelsea in 2018. The Europa League win against Arsenal was special for everyone, but for Giroud – it was more than just a win. It was a sentimental memory.
“That final against Arsenal was obviously very special for me emotionally,” Giroud said to the official Chelsea website. “When I saw that we were going to face Arsenal in the final, I knew it was going to be special.
“On top of that, it was only a year after I left. I have quite a lot of friends over there, people who work in the club’s offices. That was extra motivation for me and I knew that it was going to be a high-pressure match.”
Giroud scored the first goal at the last 3 minutes of the second round – a close call.
“I scored, I got an assist and I won the penalty so quite a lot of good things happened there for me because I was involved in three goals out of the four that we scored,” he said.
“It was like in a dream because I couldn’t have imagined that it would go so well, so perfectly for us.
“I wanted to win things at Chelsea – that’s why I was even more motivated that night – but winning against your old club like that.
