Joe Cole has claimed that Chelsea forward Olivier Giroud appeared to run out of steam in the defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The Blues were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline in the first leg of a last-16 Champions League tie on Tuesday night.
Frank Lampard’s side suffered the crushing defeat at Stamford Bridge, which means they need the performance of their lives to overturn the deficit during the second leg in Germany.
Giroud was included in the starting XI for the European showdown and he ran himself into the ground before being replaced just after the hour mark.
The centre-forward was involved in just his 10th appearance of the campaign across all competitions and perhaps there were signs of fatigue in the second period, as he started and scored in the league win over Tottenham at the weekend.
But the 33-year-old put himself about well against Bayern and acts as a target man to bring others into play.
Ex-Blues title winner Cole discussed Giroud post-match against Bayern.
“You’ve asked Giroud, who’s done brilliantly for you at the weekend, 33-year-old striker to come and lead your line against probably one of the best sides in Europe at the moment. He just looked like run out of steam towards the end,” Cole told BT Sport 1 (25 February, 9:55pm).
Despite Chelsea really being up against it for large spells against Bayern, the teams were goalless at half-time and Giroud was one of the standouts in the first-half.
The experienced striker won a number of aerial battles to try get the hosts up the field and he showed exactly what he’s good at.
He was unable to back up his goal from the weekend, but he’s shown enough to suggest he should be vying with Tammy Abraham for the starting position on a more regular basis.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
