Olivier Giroud proud of important hat-trick for Arsenal

Arsene Wenger has hailed Olivier Giroud after the striker netted a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Olympiakos.

Theo Walcott today claimed Europe will be running scared of Arsenal after they thrashed Olympiakos to reach the last 16 of the Champions League. “We made it so hard for ourselves, no-one really gave us any chance but the attitude in that dressing room was fantastic”. When you look at who we’ve lost in the last three weeks, we’ve lost Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez among other long-term injuries.

He added: “We obviously don’t want Barcelona as they are a top team but for the rest, we will see”.

When asked whether it ranked as one of his best European wins, he replied: “Yes, certainly because we needed a flawless performance to score without conceding”.

“I told you before the game it would be the greatest escape”, Wenger told BT Sport.

The 29-year-old completed his hat-trick and sapped the hosts’ resistance on 67 minutes when he sent goalkeeper Roberto the wrong way with a penalty after Omar Elabdellaoui had been penalised for handball.

“He was number one on our list (to take the penalty) ahead of Walcott and Ramsey”, Ramsey said.

“We will have to adapt to what is happening on the pitch and to all of the scenarios, accept them and respond”.

“You don’t need to single Giroud out tonight because he scored the goals”.

“It was a ideal performance from Oliver”. He was sometimes in uncomfortable positions but he fought and has shown skill and character.

“I have always defended his character”. We took our chance and we took it seriously tonight and we deserved it. We played great football up front and Olivier executed well tonight.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he was proud the way his players overcame the odds. “I’ve not even looked at that”. We will focus on the Champions League and we are going to focus on the Premier League.

“We escaped and maybe it’s a lucky year for us in the Champions League”.

Cech singled out Giroud for praise after the Frenchman’s goals earned Arsenal the win needed to progress and said: ‘He scores goals when we need him. Nine times out of 10 you are out [after such a poor start] and we needed something special and we needed a complete team performance, and it was.