In France’s opening game of the tournament, Olivier Giroud netted his 51st international goal, making him the country’s joint-highest goal scorer alongside Thierry Henry. This remarkable feat had players and fans singing the AC Milan striker’s praises.
That is everyone but Graeme Souness, who believes Giroud is lucky that Benzema has been absent from the team for so long.
“I’m not his biggest fan” Souness said.
“I would say his record is there for one reason: Benzema being out for such a long time because of all the controversy he’s involved with. Benzema, the current Ballon d’Or holder, will be missed in this French team this competition. Benzema is completely on another level.”
The Scotsman scoffed at the comparison between Giroud and Henry. He then went on to criticise the striker for his poor performance at the last tournament, highlighting his poor record in front of goal.
“Seven games in the last World Cup in the team that wins it and he never had a shot on target. When you talk about mentioning him in the same breath as Thierry Henry – sorry!”
Souness then went on to criticize the entire France team after their win against Denmark, labelling them as “shocking” without Kylian Mbappe in the team.
“They are dangerous but they have to be better than that!” 👀
Despite huge praise for Kylian Mbappe, Graeme Souness believes there are still areas to improve for France! 🇫🇷
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— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 26, 2022
“When you’ve got an absolute goalscorer which he [Mbappe] obviously is, and the way they play where they try to suck teams onto them, when you’ve got someone who can get goals for fun, you don’t have to be a brilliant team to win things.” Souness said on the ITV panel.
“They have to be better than that”.