Atlético Madrid – “Happy to be back”, Antoine Griezmann is back to Antoine Griezmann

He came back, he saw and Atlético miraculously survived. This Tuesday evening, the Colchoneros no longer ask themselves the question of whether or not they did well to bring Antoine Griezmann back to the fold. Because the Frenchman was, this Tuesday, the best player in the most important game of the season for Atlético while waiting for the rest. By opening the scoring in Porto (1-3) then delivering a fabulous assist, before weighing on the third goal, Griezmann opened wide the way to the knockout stages of the Champions League of a dominated Atlético and fourth of his group before the Frenchman’s goal.

“I think Griezmann’s goal made the decision in a game that was very open“, commented Diego Simeone, his coach and mentor. In 45 minutes, he justified his summer transfer and evaporated the doubts which still escorted his return to the Spanish capital.”In the first half, I did not touch many balls and I did not participate much offensively, commented on the microphone of the Portuguese television Eleven the Frenchman. Then I tried to look more for depth and spaces between midfielders and defense, and in the end I got my bearings.“

“It’s fate, continued the one who was logically elected player of the match. We knew it was a complicated game. We are very proud, we gave everything to the end. This is Atlético. I am very happy to be back and proud of the team. I hope to have a good Champions League campaign. “With four goals in five matches, he has already established himself as the most important player of Madrid in the Champions League and his dynamics are shaping the return of Griezmann that Atlético had reluctantly released in 2019.

After two months of looking for his place in the collective and a soaring confidence in Barcelona, ​​he remains on three goals and two assists in La Liga. Griezmann had not weighed so much on a decisive meeting in Europe since the Europa League final against OM in 2018. Three years, time is long for a player of this caliber, too long weaned from emotion after a transfer badly born in Barcelona. The world champion, in distress in Catalonia, doubted.

But the end of the year is quite different. “Little by little, he’s coming back to his best level, warned Diego Simeone at the end of November. We need him, he’s someone we went looking for, he’s someone the supporters want to see.“There are scenes that do not deceive. And at the end of the match, at the time of going to celebrate this miraculous qualification, it is Griezmann, all smiles, who led the dance in the middle of the Madrilenians. An image which says all of Grizou’s newfound happiness.