For once, Olivier Giroud has eclipsed Antoine Griezmann. By overtaking Michel Platini in the list of top scorers for the France team with his double against Ukraine, Giroud, the 100 caps striker, overshadowed another symbol: Griezmann, scorer Wednesday, passed in front of Zinédine Zidane in the same ranking. The playmaker of the Blues will have the opportunity to take back all the light on the occasion of the reception of Portugal Sunday, October 11, on behalf of the League of Nations.
With 32 achievements in 81 selections since 2014, the Mâconnais is now the fifth best scorer in blue. And, at 29, he can aim higher. His goal against a Ukrainian bis team completely overwhelmed on Wednesday at the Stade de France does not have the same value as his penalty converted into the final of the 2018 World Cup, but he still has to relieve the playmaker, well in the club .
Arrived in 2019 in Barcelona for 120 million euros and after some controversy, but with his 159 goals in five seasons under the colors of Atlético de Madrid, he has never yet imposed himself in the Blaugrana collective. In the end, he achieved a season without relief – barely 16 goals in 52 games played, often substituting or replacing – in a year that turned into a nightmare for Barcelona, corrected 8-2 by Bayern in the quarterfinals Champions League final.
Isolated in Barcelona, leader in blue
Isolated on his side of the Barcelona attack, without agreement on the field with the absolute star of Barça Leo Messi, Antoine Griezmann has gone through many games like a ghost. Conversely, he shines in the France team, reinforced by the great freedom left to him by Didier Deschamps, who has made him his key player. The French coach ensures that he is in the best possible position, which also benefits Olivier Giroud, with whom the complementarity is still as strong. Antoine Griezmann the organizer perfectly values the undermining work done on the defenses and the recovery by the Chelsea striker. “Where he is most effective and most influential for his team is when he is at the heart of the game. Above all, he needs to touch the ball a lot”, reaffirmed “DD” during the pre-match rally of the Blues.
Little bridge, knock, @KMbappe … we’re together 🎤 https://t.co/ek1knZHtdV
If the first Barcelona season could be attributed to the difficult adaptation in a breathless workforce, the French hoped to reshuffle the cards at the end of the big cleaning following the trauma of Lisbon. While Messi has proclaimed his desire to leave, before retracting, Antoine Griezmann has always assured that he wants to continue with the club. He was also able to hope for a better fate with the arrival of a new coach, the Dutchman Ronald Koeman, and the departure of the other member of the attacking trio, Luis Suarez, with whom Messi got on wonderfully.
“Antoine Griezmann is not a winger. He must play in a position to which he is used and which will allow him to express all his qualities ”, had thus announced shortly after his arrival on the bench Ronald Koeman. However, after the first days in La Liga, the Frenchman has not regained his place in the center of the field, remaining aligned on the right side. Koeman has so far preferred to use Brazilian Philippe Coutinho, returned from Bayern Munich, as playmaker with Lionel Messi a notch higher in a role of false number nine.
Confidence of Didier Deschamps
In the last match against Sevilla (1-1), the Frenchman was replaced during the match by the new 17-year-old Barcelona nugget Ansu Fati, a few days after having already been taken out at half-time. “He had two chances and he should have scored on at least one of his two actions”, even publicly criticized his trainer at a press conference. His predecessors on the Barcelona bench Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien did not hesitate to point out the half-hearted performance of the midfielder.
Conversely, Didier Deschamps aligns him in all matches, taking care not to offend his player, even when his less successful shot rubs off on his performance in the France team, as in Solna for the resumption of the Blues against Sweden (1-0) in early September. “Grizou” had missed at the end of the match his third consecutive penalty with the Blues.
“Him like others, when the situation is less good in a club, it feels good to be in the France team”, his “Happiness” permanent, had underlined Deschamps on the eve of this match.
“We all know his qualities, we all want him to score, to have fun, whether it is the Antoine we all know, but sometimes in a club it is not easy”, Paul Pogba summed up at a press conference before the match against Portugal. For this first reunion with the Lusitanians since the final of Euro 2016, Antoine Griezmann will once again have the opportunity to guide the Blues and animate the offensive line. Before returning to his daily life on the other side of the Pyrenees, now much less hospitable.
