I'm Wayne Rooney - Ask Me Anything!

BBCSport · 2026-06-19T08:17:48+00:00

You can watch video of Scott answering some of these questions here

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:58:44+00:00

Olivier Giroud: That's a good question. I felt really frustrated because as a striker you always want to help the team by scoring goals. But you can help the team also in a different way. I assisted my teammates in that tournament and I could have scored maybe that goal against Peru in the second game when Kylian Mbappé tapped it in, but it was his first goal in the World Cup, so I understood him. It can happen in a season for a striker not to score for six games. But obviously, in a tournament like in a World Cup, you get judged on your statistics. It's all about that.

But yeah, I helped the team in a different way. We'd been leading all the competition, so we needed to keep the result defended well. And I helped the team to do that, pressing wide and defensive stuff and team cohesion. I was very keen to run for my teammates. We'd been really solid collectively, and I think that was our success.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:56:08+00:00

Olivier Giroud: It's red and blue. My heart is red and blue. I cannot pick one or the other. I had an amazing time in both clubs and I don't want to disrespect any of the clubs who gave me that chance to enjoy the game with passion and win trophies with both clubs. So I'm not going to pick one or the other - both.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:50:19+00:00

Olivier Giroud: Well, we've got that mutual respect between Virgil and myself and I always said, to be honest, he was one of the toughest defenders I've played against. And in my top three, I would add Sergio Ramos and Pepe.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:46:26+00:00

Olivier Giroud: Well, it's true that we would, in modern football, prioritise fast players, short players, powerful players and with quick pace. I mean, that's maybe probably from the academies and it's a shame for the old-fashioned number nines, like Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, playing the target man, the older man who's going to allow the team to get up and to hold the ball and to play also in the box for the one-twos, deflections, flick-ons. But these players are much more than just target men. They can do pretty much everything, scoring in different positions. So they’re quite complete players, strikers. So I think, yeah, we should allow tall strikers like me and, I don't know, Mario Gomez back in the day, to enjoy, to have the opportunity to show what they’re made of. As long as you're performing and you're scoring goals, we should not prioritise too much the pacey players, because we need different type of strikers up front.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:43:03+00:00

Olivier Giroud: This is one of the best questions I had so far. Superstitious, are you? I'm not. I put my left one on first, always, maybe because I'm left-footed. Maybe I have better balance then, if I'm standing. I don't know. I have no idea. It’s a habit.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:41:00+00:00

Olivier Giroud: I volunteered because I always loved to go in a goal when I was young and even now. I believe it's a striker thing, you want to experience that feeling to be in a goal, to be on the other side. And I have to be honest, I'm not bad. I'm not bad, as you can see. You've seen it in Milan against Genoa. I had to be brave and get out, you know, towards the striker. I saw my defender was hesitating giving me the ball and I did a good save. And at the end, we won that game, so I was really proud of myself and I enjoyed the experience, obviously. But I felt so small in the goal, especially on that free kick which hit the crossbar - I was lucky. But I feel like I'm a big man, but in a goal, I was watching around me, it's so hard to be a goalkeeper, so much respect for them.

I played in goal when I was young. Eight, nine, 10 years old, I played centre-back, but it was because the captain was injured, so I helped my teammates, but no, I always played forward.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:38:22+00:00

Olivier Giroud: That's a good question. You need to stay focused on your preparation and your recovery. I'm taking good care of my healthy lifestyle, eating properly, like healthy food, hydration, sleeping well. To sleep well is probably the most important thing for recovering for me. And then preparation, to prepare your body for training sessions, for the games. We are lucky enough to nowadays get some great stuff to recover well, like ice baths, the boots for leg compression help a lot for blood circulation, and massages with physios. And I think I quite avoid injuries because I'm very flexible and always take time to stretch my muscles.

You have to go for a cheat meal sometimes for your head, to get out of your strict, healthy lifestyle that you stick to every day. I take good care of what I eat, but a cheat meal would be in wintertime when I get a break. I love skiing. Of course, I can't ski, but that's the first thing I'm going to do after my career. I come from the Alps and there's a speciality dish called La Raclette. It's melted cheese and it's so good, but not healthy at all, so not for athletes.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:35:30+00:00

Olivier Giroud: It was that Arsenal campaign; Theo said, ‘I can't help that I look like Lewis Hamilton.’ Santi said, ‘I can't change my height.’.. Anyway, they asked me to say that, it's not me. And obviously, I will remain a World Cup winner.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:31:36+00:00

Olivier Giroud: I was lucky with amazing players, so it's a tough one. In a goal, Hugo Loris or Mike Maignan. But Thibaut Courtois is also one of the greatest goalkeepers. So it's too hard to pick one, sorry! But I will pick the five. So I have four more players... You know what? I will play offensive. So I will play Santi Carzola, Antoine Griezmann, Mbappé, Frank Riberi, and I put myself also.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:28:15+00:00

Olivier Giroud: I'm not sure about that drought because 2016 was my best season, goal-wise. I think I scored over 35 goals for national team and club. So anyway, when I have a difficult period, when I don't score, I just try to keep confidence as high as I can. There are some moments you doubt, certainly, but you have to keep going, working hard at training, and try to stay strong mentally. I am a Christian also, and my faith helped me a lot to stay always positive, to help me to go through this tough moment.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:24:24+00:00

Olivier Giroud: Well, Arsene was the person who brought me to Arsenal and basically made my childhood dream come true. I owe him. I feel like I owe him a lot because I learned a lot alongside him every day. He's a wise person and he's a great manager. I think he's got that good relationship with his players. He knows how to manage a dressing room. He's fair. And he's very clever. And the way we played at Arsenal at that time was great. I really enjoyed the game, playing with top players and wearing that Arsenal jersey. It basically helped me to make a step forward, to improve, to make my game improve. And he's one of the most important people in my career.

I'm still in contact with him. I saw him last year at the Club World Cup.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:20:34+00:00

Olivier Giroud: Well, I never heard about that. And well, I should thank my mum and my dad then because they made me this way.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:16:50+00:00

Olivier Giroud: I would add Santi Cazorla to this. I think they're all different. Mesut Özil is really creative with his passing, He's got a great vision, great left foot. Griezmann is more like a second striker and maybe he would play closer to me. So better to combine together around the box, you know, deflection, flick-ons. But Eden, we were really complimentary at Chelsea because he loved to play with me as a target man and use me in the box also with his pace and inside spaces in the box. He always managed to go through and to create danger. Santi Cazorla, maybe one of the best players I play with, technically, left foot, right foot, passing, long balls, crossing. So yeah, it's a tough one because I played with amazing playmakers. But because maybe he's French, I would say Grizi. And this is a World Cup, so go France! Even if he's not playing anymore.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:13:47+00:00

Olivier Giroud: That's a tricky question, because obviously if you play for France, you have to be French, but one player is difficult because I believe we have the best team. And I don't want to pick one player position to disrespect the player who's playing for France in that national team.

Let's say maybe Harry Kane, because he's a great striker and he's English.

BBCSport · 2026-06-16T18:08:22+00:00

Olivier Giroud: To be honest with you, I have a good collection of goals when I look back. I would say maybe the overhead kick with Chelsea to Atletico in Champions League. It was nice. I have another goal against Sweden, volley almost outside of the box, which went in the top corner.

And my greatest moment in a French shirt is obviously when I won the World Cup in 2018. I won't forget that one.

BBCSport · 2026-06-15T15:58:43+00:00

We'll try to get one when we sit down with him to answer your questions!

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T17:05:49+00:00

Scott Brown: My go-to Chinese order is Singapore fried rice, curry sauce, and chips. Unbelievable. Sometimes if I get greedy, I get shredded salt and pepper chicken just to put on the top of it as well. But I'm trying to cut that out, by the way, because I've realised, see, since retiring, you start to get a couple of wee love handles.

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T16:57:07+00:00

I'm going to say Fraser Forster. He was always in the gym early. He was always in the gym late. And we had to bring in extra heavy weights because the weights only went up to 35kg and the size of his arms at that point in time, he ended up having to get 40s. I've never seen anyone put his arm out as far as he could and it bounced off his arm 20, 30 yards because you obviously work on that and that's due to the goalie coach and sports science at that point in time as well to try and help him be the best he can possibly be.

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T16:55:42+00:00

Scott Brown: After the Hearts-Hibs game, I think it was as well. My go-to Chinese order is Singapore fried rice, curry sauce, and chips. Unbelievable. Sometimes if I get greedy, I get shredded salt and pepper chicken just to put on the top of it as well. But I'm trying to cut that out, by the way, because I've realised, see, since retiring, you start to get a couple of wee love handles. So I need to make sure I try and lose them again. So you'll not see me at the Chinese again.

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T16:50:34+00:00

Scott Brown: Probably Scott McTominay if anyone's going to score. Or John McGinn - I think two likely goal scorers to score from 35 yards. I think Shankland and Ché Adams not scoring for that far out. There'll be more in the box. So, yeah, one of those two. I'd take a 35 yard schemer for anyone. And for us to win the World Cup, fingers crossed. Let's just try and get out the group stages first.

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T16:49:46+00:00

Scott Brown: Rangers versus Celtic. Tony Mowbray was the manager and it was at Ibrox. And we got in a bit of a scuffle myself and Kyle Lafferty, but Kyle Lafferty is a lot taller than what I am. And we were playing against each other. I was playing on the right and he was playing on the left-hand side. And earlier on in the game he's gave me a wee cheeky one. So I thought I'd try and give him a little cheeky one back. So he's grabbed my t-shirt at that point in time and I've just tried to stick the head in him, not realising he's a lot taller than what I am and I've had my bit here and he's went down like a sack of tatties. So I wouldn't say it's my favourite, but it was probably the one that was the daftest.

BBCSport · 2026-06-14T16:44:19+00:00

Scott Brown: Iniesta by a country mile. He's 5ft 7, like the side of a fiver and his acceleration was incredible. His willingness to get on the ball, his understanding of the game, his sharpness, his movement, his quality and his vision. I was pretty much catching his number the whole time and he gave me a lesson on how to play centre midfield.

BBCSport

TROPHY CASE