Giroud opened his account for 2019/20 just as he finished last term, with a goal in a European final. The striker finished confidently to give us the lead against Liverpool in the Super Cup, and his all-round centre-forward play certainly tested the Reds’ defence until his withdrawal with 20 minutes left.

We might not have returned to London with silverware to show for our considerable efforts in Istanbul, but Giroud is excited about what is to come under Lampard.

‘He always tries to be very positive,’ he said of the boss.

‘He won’t be too tough with us when we are not doing too well, but he also won’t put us ‘over the moon’ when we are playing well. He is always trying to analyse well the situation. He said he was proud of our performance [on Wednesday] and it is tough to lose like we did, on pens, but we have to keep our head up.

‘The most important thing [against Liverpool] was to keep the confidence high, have personality to play with freedom and clearly we did that. We were very strong and we can build good things from that for the future.

‘This squad is still very strong in terms of both quality and quantity,’ continued Giroud. ‘So I have no worries and I think we have a superb mentality. We are all pointing in the same direction, with the same targets and I’m pretty sure we can do good things and challenge for trophies. We have good hope to look forward, and winning our first home game of the season would be very important for us.’

On an individual level, Giroud continued his impressive recent record on the European stage. He was the Europa League’s topscorer last season, with 11 goals, and he believes there is an obvious reason why his tally is better on the continent than domestically.

‘The media always ask me this and obviously I had more games in the Europa League last season. If I have the opportunities on the pitch, whatever the competition, I have belief in myself to score goals.

‘The Europa League was my main competition last season and I always tried to bring something to the pitch, just as I did when I played in the Premier League. I feel very good at Chelsea and I have high expectations for this season because we have a very talented squad.’