An Olivier Giroud hat-trick sent Arsenal into the Champions League knockout rounds, but he isn’t done yet.

Often criticised, maybe Giroud is just understood? The French striker delivered on the biggest night of them all to inspire Arsenal to a 3-0 win over Greek champions Olympiacos.

“It’s fantastic for me, for the team,” Giroud said to BT Sport after the match. “We are really pleased to go through tonight, we missed the chance three years ago, two years ago and last year against Monaco.”

After a number of efforts which were so near yet so far, Arsenal finally managed to pull out a huge win to save their skins in Europe.

Of course you can argue that the team shouldn’t be in such a tough position to start with, but all that can be said after Wednesday night is that they performed when it really mattered.

“It’s nice to go through because we were not in a good position but we’ve done it for the fans and for the club, we’re really pleased tonight,” Giroud added.

A header in the first half gave everyone hope, before two more Giroud goals after the break secured a famous win.

The striker has been at Arsenal for three seasons, seeing the club exit in the round of 16 each time. This year he’s aiming to go further.

“The target is maybe to reach at least the quarter-finals. Personally and for the team. It’s the fourth year I’ve been here and I’ve never played reached the quarter-final.

“We’ll see the draw, have a good rest and open the new page of the CL in February”

With some of Europe’s biggest names in the draw, a quarter-final is still a long way off. There is a boost as Arsenal can’t draw Bayern Munich, having met them in the group stage.

For now, though, let’s bask in the glory of a famous win.