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Olivier Giroud became the first Chelsea player to score ten goals in a European campaign by scoring his goal in the first half of his return leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Slavia Prague.
Aged 32, Maurizio Sarri has become a specialist in the Europa League this season. He started more matches in the competition (nine) than in the Premier League (seven).
Sarri was rewarded with Giroud's consistently prolific performance in the Europa League and only played 17 minutes into the match by striking Pedro's center.
Remarkably, that goal was already the third goal of the Chelsea game, thanks to a shot by Pedro and his own goal of Simon Deli had allowed Chelsea to go up 2-0 and win after only ten minutes.
10 – Olivier Giroud is the first @Chelsea FC player to score 10 goals in a season in European football. Continental. pic.twitter.com/pe8IaYQNn1
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 18, 2019
Giroud provided badistance for Pedro's first goal, which earned him 13 direct engagements (10 goals, 3 badists) in the Europa League overall.
Although Giroud routinely provided goals to Chelsea in the Europa League, he struggled to find a place in the Premier League during his 18 months at Stamford Bridge.
The winner of the World Cup was initially behind Alvaro Morata in the hierarchy and was the second choice of Gonzalo Higuain since the arrival of Argentina in January.
With his contract expiring in the summer, Giroud admitted to receiving offers to play elsewhere, but Chelsea hopes to convince him to stay in place given his performance in the Europa League.
More: Chelsea FC
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