After sustaining a nasty head injury against the United States last week, Giroud was overlooked in place of wonderkid Dembele in France's starting XI for their opening World Cup match against Australia.
The decision could be more tactical than precautionary, given the added pace matches Australia's fluid 4-3-3 formation.
However, the line-up that will be on show at the Kazan Arena is the youngest in France's World Cup history since 1930 with an average age of just 24 years and six months.
Here is the full France starting XI: Lloris; Umtiti, Varane, Hernandez, Pavard; Kante, Pogba, Tolisso; Dembele, Mbappe, Griezmann.
June 16, 2018