Olivier Giroud a year back, would have never thought he would have been in this position -- representing France as a member of one of the biggest clubs in the world - Arsenal - and scoring the equalizing goal against the world and European champions Spain.
The striker, playing in the second tier of French football a little over two years back, struck in the final minute of the game, powering home a header off a nice cross from Franck Ribery to hand France a deserved 1-1 draw against Spain at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid.
"We believed until the end, it is something extraordinary (coming) back from a game like this because we had opportunities throughout the game," the Arsenal forward told French television after the match.
"This is really deserved because the whole group remained supportive. Today, it is me who made the difference and it's nice because I only played five minutes.
"It was a really good (match) and we all believed until the end."
France coach Didier Deschamps was happy with his side's second-half performance, after Spain had dominated much of the first. "In the first half we suffered, we defended well, but they didn't give us the ball and we weren't able to attack practically at all," Deschamps said.
"In the second half we had more presence, we were liberated and created more chances. You can't also forget that they ruled out a legal goal.
"We had to be magnificent, we were playing the best team in Europe and the world. The players have seen the recompense for their efforts.
"If this match brings more enthusiasm and confidence to the players then good, but we are not the best just because we have drawn with Spain.
"We are a young team, we haven't done everything well but we have character and a lot of margin to improve."
Spain defender Sergio Ramos rued giving away a "stupid" draw. "The goal was more our fault than the virtues of France, but no one is to blame for the draw," he told AS.
"We feel a little stupid, especially as we had the three points in our hands. We had chances to score and then we failed to mark them (France)."
Vicente Del Bosque, the Spain manager, was unhappy with the injury disruptions, which he felt played a major part in disrupting his team's game. David Silva pulled up with an injury after ten minutes, before Alvaro Arbeloa had to be taken off early in the second half.
"The injuries were an immediate misfortune because it prevented us from managing the changes," Del Bosque said.
"There haven't been any muscular injuries in my four years here and so to have two I am sorry about."
The manager, however, was happy enough with a point despite his side coming so close to taking all three. "We have played only three games," he added. "In the first half we had control of the game and perhaps we lacked a bit of penetration with the missed penalty by Cesc and the other chance that Pedro had.
"The home and away games against France have always been dangerous for us. What will happen with the rest of the games I don't know, it would appear March already will be important, but we can't take anything for granted with the other teams in the group as they will all aspire to be first."
