Giroud explains why he had to leave Arsenal

Today’s game between Arsenal and Lille is certainly emotional for Olivier Giroud. First and foremost, he just celebrated his 40th birthday and recently said that he enjoys every match since it’s ‘most probably my last season in professional football’. The second reason is the opponent. When Montpelier won the Ligue 1 title and shocked the world, their best striker Giroud moved to Arsenal, where he spent the next six years, scoring 105 goals in 253 matches for the Gunners. After moves to Chelsea, Milan and Los Angeles FC, he finally has a chance to play against his team with Lille, probably for the last time.##TWITTER_<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">𝑨 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 🔙🏟️ Olivier Giroud revient avec émotion sur ses années sous le maillot des Gunners avant de retrouver l’Emirates Stadium demain 🤩 See you soon @Arsenal 👋 https://t.co/VKsabidQts</p>&mdash; LOSC (@losclive) <a href="https://x.com/losclive/status/2109585366873260285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>##Asked why he chose to leave the Gunners, he gave an honest answer.“It was part of my career and my time. I had to leave the club in order to play the 2018 World Cup and we know the end of the story. I was really sad to leave the club but I had to make that choice and that was a tough one in my career but it was necessary and important for the rest of my career. It’s great to come back at 40 years old with a French club and play against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal” he said.##TWITTER_<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🗣️ Mikel Arteta on Giroud being underrated at Arsenal: &quot;Not by his teammates for sure or Arsene [Wenger] in this case. I don't know the rest. But he was extremely intelligent first and he was really, really a handful. Every time you had him on the pitch, you had a massive threat inside the box. &quot;He was very smart. He was so good at connecting with other players as well and his work rate was phenomenal, so certainly not [underrated] by us.&quot;</p>&mdash; Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) <a href="https://x.com/TikiTakaConnor/status/2109686372898656299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>##Needless to say, the French striker made an excellent choice. Not only did he won the World Cup in 2018, but he also won the Premier League and the Champions League with Chelsea. Now, looking back to his Arsenal days, he sees some similarities with Arteta’s style of play.“I had a very good understanding with the boys back in the day. That was Arsene’s game, quick and smooth. And really enjoyable to watch. Obviously now the game is even tighter in the box and teams defend very deep and low. But I watch a lot of Arsenal now and I see some similarities in their game and they always try to put pace into the game in the last third. You don’t want to leave them in any space in the box. That’s a great thing. I can see a lot of similarities between Wenger’s team and the current side” explained Giroud.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 2Tuesday19.45: (2.50) Lens (3.45) Sporting (2.75)19.45: (3.50) Sabah (3.50) Slavia Praha (2.05)22.00: (1.20) Arsenal (6.75) Lille (14.0)22.00: (2.00) Atl.Madrid (4.00) Man.Utd. (3.40)22.00: (8.50) Galatasaray (6.00) Barcelona (1.30)22.00: (1.25) Inter (6.50) Club Brugge (10.0)22.00: (1.75) RB Leipzig (4.60) PSV (3.80)22.00: (18.0) Viking (11.0) Bayern (1.10)22.00: (2.15) Villareal (3.50) Napoli (3.30)##SOFASCORE_<iframe id="sofa-standings-embed-138314-96518" src="https://widgets.sofascore.com/embed/tournament/138314/season/96518/standings?widgetTitle=UEFA+Champions+League&showCompetitionLogo=true&widgetTheme=light" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%!important; height:1763px!important;max-width:768px!important;"></iframe><div style="font-size:12px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;text-align:left"> Standings provided by <a target="_blank" href="https://sofascore.com/">Sofascore</a> </div>##