Giroud out to emulate Papin

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has set his sights on matching childhood hero Jean-Pierre Papin's figure of 30 goals for France's national team.

Giroud recently netted his 23th goal for Les Bleus to make his way into the top 10 of their all-time goalscoring charts, but the 30-year-old is not satisfied with his tally just yet.

"It is always nice to be the number 10 in France's all-time goalscoring charts," Giroud told Arsenal Player.

"I have scored 23 goals but I want to score more for my national team. I do not want to stop there. It is obviously a great feeling and hopefully some more will come.

"My target is to reach Jean-Pierre Papin. It will be an amazing achievement for me so that is why I do not want to stop. He scored very nice goals and was one of my favourite strikers when I was young. At the end of my career, if I can say that I scored as many goals as him, I will be very proud.

"I always try to give everything for my country and I am very proud to play for France. I have shown that I am strong enough mentally to face the criticism and like Didier Deschamps said, you have to deal with that.

"You are always the first person people point to if the team does not score, but the thing is that I score and I am doing well with the team.

"We have a good generation and I think we have a few very good young players who will be very important for France in the future, so we are confident for the rest of the World Cup qualifiers. We want to win it."