New recruit Giroud feels his aging body can stand rigors of Ligue 1 with Lille

Veteran striker Olivier Giroud feels his aging body can withstand the rigors of the French league and that he has plenty to offer his new club Lille.

The 38-year-old Frenchman was presented to the media on Wednesday after ending a disappointing spell in Major League Soccer with Los Angeles FC.

“I feel in good shape physically, don’t worry,” Giroud said. “I'm ready to take up the challenge. I feel good for my age and I want to play until my body says stop.”

His contract with LAFC was set to expire at the end of this year, but the club and Giroud mutually agreed to part ways so he could leave on a free transfer and join Lille, which finished fifth in Ligue 1 last season.

Giroud is France’s all-time leading men's scorer with 57 goals and won the 2018 World Cup with Les Bleus. Although he was popular with fans at LAFC, he managed just five goals in 38 matches for the team.

“The style of play in the MLS didn’t necessarily suit me,” he said. “Coming back to France 13 years later is an opportunity and an incredible challenge for me.”

Giroud left the French league in 2012 after helping unheralded Montpellier beat Paris Saint-Germain to win the Ligue 1 title, scoring 21 goals in the competition that season, before joining English Premier League team Arsenal, where he won three FA Cup trophies.

He then played for Chelsea and AC Milan, making a good impression with his knack for scoring crucial goals, his hold-up play and his unselfishness — all hallmarks of his game.

With Chelsea, Giroud won the Europa League in 2019 and the Champions League in 2021 as well as the FA Cup, and he was also one of the key players when AC Milan won the Serie A title in 2022.

Lille impressed at times in the Champions League last season, beating Real Madrid, but will play in the second-tier Europa League this season.

“I need challenges, to challenge myself, that’s what has driven my career forward," Giroud said. "This challenge speaks to me."

Lille opens its Ligue 1 campaign at Brest in mid-August.

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FILE - Los Angeles FC's Olivier Giroud (9) follows a play during the Club World Cup Group D soccer match against Flamengo, Wednesday, June 25, 2025 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, file)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)