“I knew when I got here I had to make myself small for everything I had done to the fans. And I worked. Also because of contract issues and the 30 minutes I could play alone, but I didn’t care. Hard work, football gives you”. Word of Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman, who does not stop growing, playing better and getting closer to his prime numbers, is in contention for the best player in the 2022-23 competition. He was always a star with a cozy soul, but after his World Cup exhibition, his growth seems to know no ceiling. It’s not that the team plays for Antoine, it’s that the one with the pink hair sacrifices himself for the team. It offers leadership, ubiquity, finesse, precision, category, shot, defensive quarterback and Above all, Excellent tactical intelligence. There is no party that does not put the collective above its ego. And there is no party that, far from measuring, multiplies its efforts. Antoine is not at Messi’s table. Not even with Cristiano. Not even in Vinicius’s. Not even in Mbappé’s. He’s in his. at the table of one of the brightest guys world football has produced in the last decade.
Antoine, who has turned whistles into applause and rancor into devotion, is exactly where he wanted to be. He is happy, he feels liberated and he is ‘on fire’. He is the first player in the League to reach double figures, with 11 goals and 10 assistsis the architect of Atlético’s extraordinary streak and is determined to grow even more until the end of the course. Playing for Simeone, he’s a staunch believer in cholismo and he’s committed to the cause. He is the Argentine’s first soldier, he feels indebted to him and works to restore all the confidence that the coach gave him. He doesn’t hide it. “I give everything for Cholo and this team. It is normal that if there is someone who has been with the club for a long time, they talk about the end of the cycle with four bad games, but Cholo is the best coach for Atlético“If Simeone is the best thing that happened to Atleti in his life, then Griezmann is the best thing that happened to Cholo since his arrival. Antoine is a whole team within the same player. It is everywhere. He exudes positive energy, is karat football and has put the audience in his pocket.
If he has to go to the floor to sweep, he goes to the floor. If you have to cover to play the wing, you don’t lose your rings. If he has to stay behind to generate game, it’s up to Koke. If he has to throw himself aside to create spaces, he makes them. If you need to pause the game, it will pop up between the lines to play. When he needs to speed up the game, he always finds the first touch needed to go in with a bugle punch. And when he needs to tip the game for his team to win, he always shows up. If there was still some kind of resentment in the stands, if someone was missing to forgive him, then there is no one left. Antoine works, does his best and leads. He is the first soldier of Cholo. He is not Atleti’s best player. He is a living legend of the club. Athletic heritage. Forgiveness is earned. On and off the field. The weak take revenge. Forgive the strong.
Reuben Uria
Source: Goal