It’s been more than ten years, a guy appeared, he had a strange haircut, he had that happy presence, but he played unique football. Everything seemed somehow simple, and yet elusive, and that’s how he shook the nets for Real Sociedad, then Atletico Madrid, somewhat less often in Barcelona. His name was Antoine Griezmann. He even got the silver boot as the second scorer of the World Cup in 2018 when France climbed to the top of the planet.Now Les Blues want to stay there. And again, they have a guy in the team who ‘combs his hair strangely’ and plays football somehow differently, smarter than others. And his name is Antoine Griezmann. And he looks a lot like the first Antoine Griezmann. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to believe that it’s the same man.##NAJAVA_MECA_6870982##Because joking aside, how Griezmann plays in Qatar has nothing to do with the football Antoine played when we met him. Ask anyone in the world, the first thing they will tell you is: a striker. Now, someone will claim that he is more suited to play as a midfielder, someone as a second striker, someone will move him to the wing, only a few will give him the role of “ten” in the midfield, a very, very offensive “ten”.And then Didier Deschamps came and brought him back… Well, he brought him back so much that he played – everywhere. In the absence of the injured Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, the coach needed someone who could connect the lines of the team. And Griezmann does it as if he is using super glue.When he needs to pass it to Mbappe, Dembele and Giroud, he does it from a distance of 40 meters. With Antoine behind them, they don’t have to go back. Because if Tchouameni and Rabiot leave some part of the pitch uncovered, this new Griezmann will appear from somewhere and patch it up. And if the opponent breaks through to the last line, there he is again, he will come ‘out of the ground’, he will transport himself in his own box and then launch a counterattack. Like two nights ago with the second goal for France.Griezmann’s been playing for France since 2014, but the amount of roles he’s taken up, and EXCELLED in, is mindblowing. From playing as a left winger, to a devasting goalscoring false 9, to now pulling the strings from deep as a midfielder. Incroyable versatility and IQ🤌🏼 pic.twitter.com/IM8pz4cK1c— Lyés (@LyesBouzidi10) December 4, 2022 Nominally in the position of offensive midfielder – but the best indicator of how much starting formations really mean nothing in modern football. Because Griezmann is omnipresent and every ball of the French team has to pass through his feet. Each time they have possession he has to decide what to do with her. And he will never make a wrong decision.A chameleon-like transformation of one of today’s deadliest executioners.”I probably ask him to do some things differently, but there is no sacrifice there. He is so generous. He likes the build-up. Yes, he will score less goals, because other players are now forward, but his intelligence gives us balance. I could have put him on the right wing instead of Ousmane Dembele, but that is not the position where he can give us the most,” said coach Deschamps.His teammates are also delighted.“Honestly, I’m impressed. I’m not surprised, but I’m really impressed. You should see him sliding and tackling in training,” said Aurelien Tchouameni.Olivier, enjoy the record while it lastsHe slides and tackles. Maybe it sounds like something quite ordinary to you, but it is not normal when we are talking about a striker who scored 276 goals in his career and set up another 131. Such footballers rarely go back and play defense. They are almost never in their own penalty area. And this new Antoine Griezmann is often there, in his own box, then in the opponents’ box, sometimes in the center, a little to the left, a little to the right, suddenly he is behind Giroud, then he appears next to Raphael Varane, then putting pressure on the opposing center defender, then helping Jules Kounde to close at the back…He is everywhere. As if there were two of them.”He is precious for this kind of football. He gives balance. And, he is a young man who likes to run, he is always on the move, he reads the game of both opponents and teammates very well”, says Emmanuel Petit, 1998 world champion. “For three years now, I have had the impression that he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and that, whatever he does, he will always be criticized. Maybe he just needed time to find himself”.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Apparently, he did. Both himself and others, so much that Griezmann created his teammates the most chances in this tournament (15), two more than even Lionel Messi.”He is a “ten”. He is the one who creates plays. He is available to everyone. Above all, he is the one who pushes others to play”, comments another 1998 world champion with France, Youri Djorkaeff.
