Lille striker Olivier Giroud paid tribute to the memory of Jean-Louis Gasset, who died this Friday, December 26 at the age of 72. “He was a real good person with great values, he knew the ball well, he knew how to speak to the players with the right words, and sometimes with this quiet side which was part of his personality,” confided the top scorer in the history of the Blues (57 goals), moved by the disappearance of the man who counted in his international debut. “For all these reasons, he was very popular with the guys. I am very saddened to see him leave so young. I think of his family. »
It was during the period when Jean-Louis Gasset served as assistant to Laurent Blanc in the French team (2010-2012) that Giroud’s international trajectory began. “I was touched by the way he and Laurent Blanc welcomed me,” insists the 2018 world champion.
Appearing for the first time in the selection on November 11, 2011 against the United States (1-0), Giroud, who then played in Montpellier, a club dear to the heart of Gasset, then on the way to the title of champion of France, then discovered the very high level during Euro 2012.
Previously, he scored his first goal in blue on February 29, 2012, during a success in Germany (2-1). A founding sequence, marked by the kindness and the demands of a locker room man today unanimously praised by French football.
