Olivier Giroud Quotes

I don't want to go on forever and leaving the sport is the hardest decision.

I feel really good right now. It will really be a tough decision. It's so hard to give up what you love doing. Hanging up the boots will not be an easy thing to do.

It's hard for an athlete to quit what he's done his whole life.

A piece of my heart will always be in football, but my mind ended it.

You know, even though I feel that I can still play the game, God has made the answer clear to me. Retirement is now. I have to retire as a Green Bay Packer.

I love the game and I wanted to continue playing. It came to a time that I had to stop.

Even when I retired, there was part of me that didn't want to retire. But once you decide it's time to move on then you have to stick with it.

I don't know how long my body will allow me to compete, but I can't imagine doing anything else. That day will come, and I just hope there'll be a light shining down a path telling me where to go.

There will be a time when I won't be able to perform in the ring.

I think it's going to be the most difficult thing to do, to leave the stage. But if you have no lucidity about it, it's even worse because you don't see the negative side of you still being onstage.

It's always hard the moment you decide to stop playing. It doesn't matter if you're at a small club or a big club: it's the end of your playing career, so that's always going to be a big moment for any player.

I am preparing myself to leave football. I have always thought that once you get past 30, it is time to reflect on when you should go, and that is what I have done.

Obviously, everyone knows it is hard to hang it up, but I'm definitely going to try and do it the right way and not like how combat athletes have done and hold on too long for every last fleeting moment. I don't want to be one of those people.

It was clear to me that I was never going to be the same kind of player I had been. It was time to quit.

I'll play out the string and leave baseball without a tear. A man can't play games his whole life.

Over the years, when I've seen players retire, when you ask them about it, they always say you'll know when you're ready, and I think I know when I'm ready. I think I'm ready.

My journey as a player is complete.

I didn't want to be one of those ex-pros, aye hanging around. I think that's wrong.

I've said many times in the past that my career's not going to go on much longer; I'm not going to keep going and riding until I'm in my 30s and things like this.

I think you always hope you can play forever, but you always realize that time will come... I was fortunate I was able to make a decision, move on and do it comfortably.

Some fighters know when to stop on their own and go on to something else, and then some fighters have nothing to go back to after they are finished. Some fighters still have the burning fire and feel that they just need to try one more time. Few can do it.

I don't want to be considered a gymnast anymore.

Sometimes you feel the emotion. You think this might be my last pre-season or my last Champions League match. But, overall, those thoughts aren't important right now. But the time will soon come.

I never felt I would get to the stage where I would to have to actively think about retiring from international football as I always thought it would pass me by.

It's hard to leave behind scenes and characters I am in love with.