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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel praised Olivier Giroud’s longevity after the forward scored an excellent winning goal against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday.
The French international made a magnificent shot in the 68th minute to secure the 1-0 victory at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest, with circulation restrictions due to coronavirus that prevented the tie from taking place at the Wanda Metropolitano.
While the 34-year-old Giroud had to wait for a long VAR control, he finally gave himself the goal and it was his sixth in the competition this season after a decisive effort in Rennes and four goals in Seville in the group stage. .
Tuchel said: “If you see him on a daily basis, you cannot be surprised. He is totally fit, his body is in shape and his physique is at the top level.
“Mentally I have the feeling that he enjoys every day being a professional footballer at this level and this is the level he needs.
“He trains like a 20-year-old, like a 24-year-old. He’s a guy who has a good mix of seriousness and joy in training. He’s always positive and is an important factor for the group.
Olivier Giroud scores with a header against Atlético de Madrid
“He’s a starter, when he comes off the bench, he has all these qualities and he’s good like that.
Chelsea bounced back from a nervous opening minutes in Romania to dominate most of the game and prevent La Liga leaders Atlético from having a single shot on goal.
The Blues boss added: “I am very happy for my players and the team for such a great reward. In fact, we can read on the scoreboard that we have the result against the best opponents.
“It was very important that we were absolutely focused during the 96 minutes and that we also accepted that it is very difficult to create chances, but we did all that and it was a very good team effort.”
Simeone: difficult attack vs quality
Atlético were left without a number of players, including the suspended Kieran Trippier, and struggled in unfamiliar surroundings to suffer a second straight loss after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Levante.
Now it’s a victory in five games for Diego Simeone’s men and he said: “I understood that we had to play like this.
“I think the main problem was that we didn’t have much precision when it came to recovering the ball.
“It was a tough game, nobody had much chance to score, but it was also very difficult with their attack because they have very strong and quality players.”
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