Olivier Giroud has warned France are determined to ruin Lionel Messi’s dream of a World Cup fairytale.
Argentina superstar Messi, 35, will face France in Sunday’s final determined to win the trophy which has eluded him during his incredible career. But former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Giroud says they are ready to spoil the party as they look to repeat their success from Russia four years ago.
Giroud said: “Messi is an incredible player, but we are not going to let him enjoy the best night he can have. We want to win this game. We want to win another World Cup.
“We will try everything to stop him. But there is not only Messi in that team. They have got great players who work for the team also. I think that is why they are so strong.”
France dumped Argentina out of the last World Cup at the last 16 stage when N’Golo Kante marked Messi but the Chelsea midfielder is out injured this time and Giroud admits he is not sure how they plan to stop him this time.
Giroud said: “I remember back in the days of 2018, N’Golo [Kante] was all the game on his back, behind him. But this time I don’t know what the plan will be. We will see with the manager.”
However, Giroud insists France are ready to write another chapter of history and he says their squad is ready to win a third World Cup for the nation.
He added: “It's amazing to be there four years after Moscow. We have one more time a great squad. We believe in ourselves and our quality.
“I think we deserve to be there [in the final] because we put so much effort to reach that level. Now we will do everything to bring a third star for France.
“We are lucky to have a very talented squad, young players. But not only that, we have also got some players who were there in 2018 and had the opportunity to play a World Cup final. So, hopefully, it will help obviously and we will try to make the youngsters be in the best conditions for this game.”
