Olivier Giroud is not certain he will catch Thierry Henry at the top of France's goalscoring standings - but he sees no reason not to try.
Olivier Giroud has half an eye on catching Thierry Henry at the top of France's all-time leading scorer list after grabbing two goals on his 100th international appearance.
The Chelsea striker got his 41st and 42nd goals for Les Bleus in Wednesday's 7-1 thrashing of Ukraine in a friendly match at Stade de France.
Giroud has surpassed Michel Platini on the list and is now behind only former Arsenal and Barcelona star Henry, who scored 51 in 123 games.
Giroud's tally is all-the-more impressive given he has often been used by coach Didier Deschamps as a target man entrusted with bringing deeper forwards such as Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe into play.
Indeed, the 34-year-old played in all seven of France's games at the 2018 World Cup, including their 4-2 win over Croatia in the final, without once getting on the scoresheet.
Although he is not focusing too much on catching Henry, he suggested setting a new national record could be within his reach.
"Obviously, I'm hugely proud," Giroud, who was captain for the Ukraine match, told TF1. "It's a great honour [to reach 100 caps] and I'm very happy that it happened like this.
"It was always going to be emotional. It's a friendly match but it's still my hundredth, so I'm very happy for me and for the team as well. We showed a lot of good things.
"Now I keep looking forwards, without setting any limits. I hope to continue like this.
"I think you have to set goals. It's now maybe a little early to say [if I will break the record]. We'll see when I'm maybe on 46 or 47 goals!"
France face Portugal in the Nations League on Sunday.
AlexWeche11
570
Even if he will not BREAK HENRY RECORD ...at least he has made his own RECORD and HISTORY which he waits to be BROKEN by FUTURE PLAYERS ...GOOD JOB GIROUD
bicbdnty
288
it's amazing as the kart is France second highest scorer and formula one is no where to be found......probably out of gas[Crylaugh]
ronnie_luv
210
while Giroud and Benzema provoke each other, they have one thing in common:- . Both are Criticised immensely but they don't stop to make their name in the TOPSCORER list for respective club(for benz)/country (for giroud)
Efemeshach07
22
Honestly, Oliver Giroud has really been underrated,
RaiyanHasib
12
Henry's reaction after Giroud is coming closer to his record