‘Giroud didn’t moan about missing out on a move’ – Rudiger gives ‘massive respect’ to Chelsea striker

The France international had been hoping to secure a switch in the winter window, but he remains at Stamford Bridge and has been back in the goals

Olivier Giroud deserves “massive respect” for having not moped around on the back of missing out on a January transfer, says team-mate Antonio Rudiger.

The international had been hoping to find a way out of Stamford Bridge in the winter window and various landing spots were mooted, with Serie A giants Inter appearing to lead the chase at one stage.

No deal was done, though, and Giroud remains in west London.

His situation has not changed as Chelsea were unable to bring in another striker as cover for the World Cup winner, but he has seen more minutes under Frank Lampard.

Having stepped off the bench in a disappointing defeat to , Giroud was included from the off in a derby date with Tottenham and got himself back among the goals.

Rudiger told the Evening Standard of the 33-year-old frontman on the back of a 2-1 win over Spurs: “I give massive respect to him.

“He was always patient, he never said anything, even when his transfer didn’t go through. He remained humble and worked hard.

“And there was also a difference when he came on against United. On Saturday he had a big impact. He is a team player and he always puts himself on the line.

“He is not only about scoring — he is always putting in the hard work and that is why I am very pleased.”

Chelsea may look to Giroud for inspiration again in their next outing, as they prepare to take on Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Facing the German giants will not be easy for any of those called upon by Lampard, but Jorginho is looking for cool heads regardless of how a heavyweight European encounter plays out.

The international midfielder has said: “Saturday was very important for us, we knew that.

“When you create and defend, I think you need to be more aggressive and have more belief. On Saturday we were helping each other and that is very important. We need to keep doing this.

“[We need to] fight, run, hurt. We need to believe in ourselves on the ball. When we have to defend we have to defend together and that is it, that is what it takes to win big games.

“To be careful, to be focused on some details because in big games it is like this.

“There are two games [against Bayern], so we can’t lose our mind and go crazy if something goes wrong. We need to be quiet, be smart for that.”