Antoine Griezmann wants Ballon dOr but no-show against Barcelona proves hes still nowhere near Lionel Messis level
When Diego Costas header thumped into the back of the net to put Atletico Madrid 1-0 up with 13 minutes to go on Saturday, his coach must have thought this was finally the time.Diego Simeone has done incredible things with the Colchoneros over the last seven years but one of the few achievements to evade him is beating Barcelona in La Liga, which has prevented Atleti from winning more league titles to match their 2014 success.But that victory evaded him once again when Ousmane Dembl came off the bench in stoppage time, was fed by an excellent Lionel Messi pass and fired an equaliser through Jan Oblaks legs.It was the same story as always for Atletico against Bara in the league; once more they tried to cling on by the finest of margins against the league champions, but ultimately didnt have a player with the authority to assert some dominance and help them stay in front.In his post-match press conference Simeone was asked what Atletico lack to see out one of these games and take three points from the Blaugrana.‘Four minutes’ was his reply.If the Argentinean was honest he could have pointed to something else his team lack in these head-to-heads against Bara however – a big performance from the guy who is supposed to be their big game player, who dramatically turned down Barcelona last summer in order to be the man at Atletico and add trophies of greater significance to his haul there.Pointing to the World Cup win with France in the summer as well his role in Atleticos Europa League win in the spring, Antoine Griezmann has been the principle advocate of his own candidacy for the Ballon dOr this year. Yet if he is truly going to be considered a player on the same level as benchmark setter Messi, it is more than reasonable to expect that he should decide at least one league game against his teams rival for the biggest domestic prize. However, Griezmann has never scored a league goal for Atleti against Bara, let alone driven them towards a win.This weekend, a face-off with the dominant side in La Liga over the past decade passed him by once again.The number seven is supposed to be Atletis Messi, the creative leader who gives them inspiration and leads with his quality in the most valuable part of the pitch the final third. Instead, he was mostly of little consequence.In the first half, his passes were tidy but never cutting, while in the second period he became, at times, a negative influence.Griezmann was well below his usual level on Saturday evening1
Griezmann was well below his usual level on Saturday evening
For perspective compare Messi, who always looked likely to cause danger when he received the ball, and was instrumental in salvaging a draw for Barcelona, to the opposite force in red and white.There was the counter-attack that broke down because Griezmann tried to play one touch into space with no one there to receive, not spotting the overlapping runs into space begging to be taken up. Or another that failed because a pass was over-hit, resulting in the France international going into the book after he fouled Arturo Vidal while trying to recover.Worse still, a particularly bad loss of possession soon after allowed Messi to break into space with Bara at a numerical advantage, and Atleti were fortunate not to be punished more severely than by conceding a corner. Lucas Hernandez bailed his compatriot out big time.Rather than being the playmaker, his decision making was generally poor; hurried and without the sharpness he can show when at his best.And while it is true that his delivery from a corner supplied Costa to score the home teams goal, the bar Griezmann has to meet if he is to be considered the worlds elite player as he so wishes is higher than delivering one good ball from a set-piece.In June the 27-year-old made a huge song and dance about his rejection of Barcelona to stay at Atletico, infamously immortalised in a TV special, ‘The Decision’.Saturday was the golden opportunity for him to prove it was the right call, showing that he can spur Atleti towards a second league title of the Simeone era, and in doing so solidify his claim to be considered the worlds best.Instead, in a game that Cholo Simeone concluded was ‘defined by details’, one of the details was Griezmanns inability to define the game. Again.
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