The Arsenal striker’s acrobatic opening goal against Crystal Palace will live long in the memory and is likely to be the highlight of his career
On a sodden, cold and otherwise underpowered afternoon at the Emirates Stadium Olivier Giroud provided an unforgettable moment of illumination. The Frenchman has found himself down the pecking order in recent months, demoted to second choice as collateral damage to Alexis Sánchez’s reinvention as a spiky central striker. One thing does seem certain, though. Whatever direction Giroud’s strangely divisive five-year Arsenal career takes from here, however the club’s hotly-contested modern history ends up remembering him, he is unlikely to have a better moment, in isolation, than the opening goal here. Olivier, old boy, we’ll always have Palace.
What are we calling it then? A Henrikh? A studs-up, reach-back semi-scorpion? Perhaps the greatest no-look donkey-kick breakaway volley you’re likely to see outside the pixelated world of early 1990s arcade machines? Certainly Henrikh Mkhitaryan does seem have been on to something with his discovery of the sole-of-the-boot, reach-around volley.
Related: A celebration of scorpion kicks, from Zico to Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Related: Olivier Giroud’s brilliant back-heel helps Arsenal sink Crystal Palace
Continue reading...