Olivier Giroud has responded to a claim that he blanked Australia’s Jason Cummings and his request for a shirt swap by pretending not to speak English.
France beat Australia 4-1 in their opening encounter, with Giroud scoring twice in the victory.
Socceroos midfielder Cummings, who grew up in Scotland and switched allegiances to his mother’s country of birth earlier this year, came on as a substitute in the game.
Afterwards Cummings revealed that he first tried to swap shirts with France superstar Kylian Mbappe, but he was rejected by France’s kit manager at the dressing room door.
“After the France game I actually tried to get Mbappe – forget Giroud, I went for the top boy Mbappe – and he told me to meet him in the changing rooms,” Cummings told Australia’s Channel 10. “So I went to the changing room and the kit man was there and I gave him my top, and 10 minutes later he came out with my jersey and says: ‘Nah, absolutely not, (Mbappe) doesn’t want to swap’.”
He then saw Giroud and claims he asked to swap shirts with the former Arsenal and Chelsea striker instead, but says he was ignored. “When I was walking back to my changing room, I’ve seen Giroud, as handsome as ever, and I asked him, ‘Giroud, please man, can I get your shirt, man? I’m a big fan, can I get your shirt?’. And he just walked past me, pretended he never spoke English! And he’s been in the Premier League for 10 years! He just walked right past me.”
On Thursday Giroud - who had not posted on social media since being substituted in the first half of the World Cup final - tweeted a picture showing he did have an Australian shirt, but it was not from Cummings. Instead he had swapped with another Socceroos player, Jackson Irvine, and it appeared the veteran Frenchman was jokingly taunting Cummings with the evidence.
“Hi @jacksonirvine_ ,” Giroud tweeted. “How is my English mate?,” along with several laughing emojis and a heart between the two nations’ flags.
In the end, Cummings had to settle for the shirt of Barcelona defender Jules Koundé.
