‘It could be nice to meet Chelsea again’ – Olivier Giroud on the possibility of facing former side at Club World Cup | OneFootball

Chelsea head to the USA for the Club World Cup in just over two weeks and they may be set to come up against a familiar face in Olivier Giroud.

The Frenchman now plays for Los Angeles FC, who take on CF America on Sunday in a match to determine which side will qualify for the Club World Cup.

This game is taking place because Club León, who were supposed to be Chelsea’s first opponent, faced disqualification due to FIFA’s regulations on multi-club ownership.

As such, this one-off game presents Giroud with the chance to possibly come up against the team he won the Champions League with.

Talking about the prospect of that happening, the striker said: “This it the kind of match you need to play at 110% basically. To get the opportunity to play in this kind of competition is a big chance for the boys.

“I never played it, basically. When we won the Champions League with Chelsea I left [for] Milan the year after. It could be nice to meet Chelsea again. It will be a massive game against America. We play at home and we need to start the game really strongly.

“I’m sure the boys understand the importance of the game for the club and for ourselves. We need to garb the opportunity to play in this competition.”

Chelsea will face either Los Angeles FC or CF America in the first group game, followed by Flamengo and then Esperance.

There are a host of huge clubs taking part in the competition, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid.

FIFA have incentivised all of these teams to take the competition seriously, as there is a prize pot of $125 million for the winners of the tournament. Manchester City’s chairman has vowed the club are taking it “very seriously”.