Over in Riyadh, Antoine Griezmann is breaking a record. A cool turn with his left foot leaves one Genuine Madrid marker on the ground and another tracking in his wake. An intense shot with his ideal foot sees the ball fly into the bottom corner of the internet.
Eventually, Genuine Madrid originated from behind two times to win an exhilarating Spanish Super Cup semi-final by 5 objectives to 3 after additional time. Griezmann enters into the Atletico Madrid history books, nonetheless. His redemption in red and white is now total.
It was he who likewise scored the very first objective at the Metropolitano Arena “It was not simply any objective,” he stated at the time. Nor was this one. The objective that made it 174 for Atletico, climaxing set by Luis Aragones practically half a century earlier.
A statue of Atletico Madrid legend Luis Aragones at the Metropolitano Arena.
There is a statue of Aragones outside the Metropolitano. There was a time when any hope of Griezmann being honoured in the exact same method appeared long gone. Even the little plaque to mark every gamer who has actually made 100 looks for the club appeared out of location.
It was trashed upon his return with Barcelona. A trio of toy rats marked the area, representing the strength of sensation versus him. Inside the arena, there was a banner questioning his manhood. The chants from the Atletico fans were less mouth-watering than that.
Griezmann came through it. Resistance dissipated when he returned. Contrition was clear, work ethic steadfast. And besides, Atletico still won a title without him. Regardless of signing him two times, they have actually handled to earn a profit on their record scorer too.
Memories have actually been made too. His current objective in the 1-0 win over Mallorca was the record 25th event in which Griezmann had actually scored the only objective of a video game in La Liga. It talks to how definitive his interventions have actually ended up being under Diego Simeone.
” With him, there is constantly something unique that can appear anytime in the match,” states Simeone himself. Offered a complimentary function – as totally free as any gamer can potentially remain in a Simeone side – Griezmann has actually grown without being seen to take a lot of liberties.
He still harries, covering the kilometres. That is non-negotiable. However it has actually remained in him because the start. Lyon informed him that he was too little when simply a young boy. Whatever because has actually been a workout in showing his toughness, showing that he can manage the physicality.
He would have grown anywhere.
To do so at Simeone’s Atletico brings extra pride.
Antoine Griezmann after scoring the record-breaking objective versus Genuine Madrid
As Jose Luis Caminero, the male who initially signed him for Atletico, put it: “He is a gamer happy to compromise himself for the group when it is required and deal with protective jobs too, something that makes him various from the remainder of the world’s biggest gamers.”
A really Atletico Galactico.
As such, it is proper that even 2nd time around, the battle came before the success. Upon being lent back to Atletico, the disagreement over his transfer charge resulted in his minutes being limited. He was on the bench for the very first 7 video games of last season.
At that phase, all this looked anything however inescapable. “Lots of, numerous, believed otherwise,” Simeone mentioned. However Griezmann is playing the very best football of a profession that won him the World Cup half a lots years earlier and a nine-figure transfer to Barcelona after that.
Antoine Griezmann was the leading scorer in La Liga in the fiscal year of 2023
Griezmann was the impressive gamer in Spanish football in 2023 – and it was not close. The gulf in between him and the rest is finest highlighted by the reality that he was not just the leading scorer in La Liga in the fiscal year however he was likewise leading of the helps list too.
Griezmann was associated with 34 Atletico objectives, 9 more than closest competitor Robert Lewandowski. No one else handled more than 20. However even those numbers do underestimate to his contribution. Compare the variety of huge opportunities produced to the rest in 2023.
He is scorer and developer, prompter in chief.
He has actually discovered himself once again. At Barcelona, that was difficult in the shadow of Lionel Messi. Required to discover a brand-new position, do things that did not match his own strengths in bondage to the group, he handled to make a function for himself, however it was not his own.
Here, and with Messi gone, he has actually developed himself as the primary male not simply at Atletico however maybe in the competitors. “When he plays well, the group strikes another level,” Simeone discusses. “He enables us to have more choices to shift from defence to attack.”
This objective was simply the most recent example of that. It came, simply as the record-equalling effort versus Getafe did last month, with a caution. 2 late objectives to reject him the splendor, implying that the events were cut. How properly Atletico is that.
This course has actually not been best. Two times, Griezmann has actually signed up with Atletico as champs however he has actually never ever won La Liga with them. Possibly that is more fitting. The battle is all part of it with Atletico. And Griezmann is back, making every effort versus those royal competitors, leading the battle.
The male whose Atletico profession may have ended in ignominy however for his own decision to return has actually created another tradition, turned the page on another tale. On the boardwalk of legends, a plaque no longer feels enough. Antoine Griezmann’s status is lastly guaranteed.