Olivier Giroud put on his kit, his cleats, he presented himself to the assistant referee, but he will not participate in the penalty shootout. The disappointment was palpable on the face of the French team’s striker when Michael Oliver whistled the end of extra time between the Blues and the Portuguese. Didier Deschamps did not have a window to capitalize on the entry into play of the best scorer in the history of the French team.
The experience, freshness and scoring qualities of the AC Milan player would certainly not have been too much to face this Portugal during a fateful session in the quarter-finals of a Euro. In the previous round, the Portuguese won in the same exercise once morest the Slovenians. The key: three saves by Diogo Costa on three opposing attempts.
Giroud calmed his frustration by going to motivate his teammates, who will experience the stress of being among the first five shooters, or worse, of waiting for sudden death to present themselves in front of the impressive FC Porto goalkeeper.
