Kjaer on the marking of his Milan team-mate Giroud: “He is world class”
It will be a battle of Milan World Cup team-mates and Denmark defender Simon Kjaer admits that it will be difficult to neutralize Olivier Giroud and Théo Hernandez for France. “He’s world class.”
The two nations met in Qatar for the group stage on Saturday and Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand admitted in his press conference that he had asked Kjaer for some details on how to mark Giroud out of the game.
“Olivier is a better striker now than he was in the past. I spoke with Simon about it. Hopefully knowing the opponent will prove to be an advantage.
Giroud netted a brace in the opening 4-1 win over Australia to equal Thierry Henry’s all-time goalscoring record for France.
“I see Giroud as absolutely top-flight in terms of movement, playing with his team-mates and everything else,” added Milan centre-back Kjaer.
“He is slightly less mobile and outside of tactics than Karim Benzemabut on the pitch he is certainly world class.
Their common teammate in Milan Zlatan Ibrahimovic predicted before the tournament kicked off – and before Benzema’s injury – that Giroud would be Qatar’s top scorer at the World Cup.
“I hope not !” Kjaer replied with a laugh.
Theo Hernandez came off the bench for his injured brother Lucas and was a game-changer against Australia, providing an assist and usually impressive at left-back.
What is Lucas Hernandez out of the tournament, Theo should start tomorrow and for the rest of the competition, so there are three Milan representatives in this game.