Olivier Giroud pleased with France team performance after beating Iceland to reach Euro 2016 semis

By PA Sport

Image: Olivier Giroud cupped his ears when celebrating his second goal against Iceland

Olivier Giroud is savouring his country's 5-2 victory over Iceland in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, rather than focusing on his own man-of-the-match performance.

Having been caught in the crossfire over the decision to overlook Real Madrid's Karim Benzema for the finals in the France, Giroud was jeered by some French supporters leading up the tournament.

However, the 29-year-old hit back at his doubters on Sunday evening by scoring twice in the 5-2 win, leaving the field to a standing ovation.

The Arsenal striker cupped his ears when celebrating his second goal but downplayed the personal impact of his performance at the Stade de France.

Image: Giroud praised France's team performance

He said: "It's always nice to be named man of the match but, first and foremost, it's about the team reaching the semi-finals and our performance.

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"We scored five goals and are very pleased, although we did concede two. Iceland didn't give up at any stage of the match as we knew they were a very valiant side, a very determined outfit.

"They kept going right until the end and I'd like to give them a lot of credit because they had a great campaign in the European Championships.

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"We're going to savour this victory. We are going to rest up and focus once again for Thursday because we have a big match against the world champions.

"From my perspective, I'm pleased, nothing more than that. I am pleased for the team, my family and the French public as a whole.

"I don't know if it's my best performance (for France). I have played some other good games as well, but in a major tournament that is perhaps my best performance, if you will. I felt really good physically right from the start of the game."

Giroud netted just 12 minutes into the match in Paris, with Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann adding further goals to put France 4-0 up at half time.

Image: Antoine Griezmann (L) scored France's fourth goal

It was the first time a side had scored four goals in the first half at a European Championship finals, ending Les Bleus' wait for a first-half goal at the tournament, a timely boost ahead of the Germany semi-final..

"We're used to making bad starts to matches and we were able to change that," Giroud said. "That's good going forward, we need to retain that.

"We were on top right from the first few minutes and we were very clinical, so that's nice. From a personal perspective it is good as well and I am scoring once again."

Giroud is also confident of getting the desired outcome from Thursday's semi-final in Marseille.

Image: France are set to face Germany in the semi-finals of the Euros on Thursday night in Marseille

"It will be a totally different match," he said. "They're the world champions and they're often in the last four of major tournaments. It will be a great match.

"We have a lot of desire to try and get our own back for what happened in the World Cup. We beat them here in a friendly match, we won 2-0, but it will be a completely different game in Marseille.

"I hope the French public are as excitable in the stadium as they were here and I hope they'll support us all the way. We are lucky enough to play a European Championship semi-final in front of a home crowd.

"From my perspective, I'm very proud of what this French side is achieving and I hope we will once again come out with the right result."

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