Antoine Griezmann: The Euro 2016 Star on Whom Atletico’s Simeone Era Now Rests

The tournament was supposed to belong to Paul Pogba, but it didn’t. And that in itself was significant. 

It was in the days prior to the Euro 2016 final in Paris between France and Portugal, and it hadn’t taken long for the focus to turn to the game’s chief subplot: Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Antoine Griezmann; Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid; tournament emperor vs. tournament prince; one of football’s two current kings vs. one of its kings in waiting, maybe. 

And of course: the Ballon d’Or. 

“I think he’s a candidate,” said Blaise Matuidi of team-mate Griezmann with regard to the game’s highest individual honour. “If I had to vote, I’d vote for him.”

Matuidi wasn’t alone, either. Arsene Wenger gave his measured support to the France striker; Didier Deschamps touched on it; and Thierry Henry, with his national hat firmly on, referred to Griezmann as “our Ronaldo.”

It wasn’t lost on anyone that such endorsements were drenched in tricolour pride, but it was also striking that they weren’t at all fanciful. Bias was evident, but so was logic. Griezmann had led Atletico to the Champions League final only a month earlier, and he’d just led France to another finale, unquestionably the key man in both instances. 

The significance was simple: Griezmann is in the conversation. 

As the 2016-17 season approaches, he’s the player Atletico Madrid will welcome back to the Vicente Calderon—the undisputed star whose excellence is now recognised almost universally and on whom the Diego Simeone era at Atletico now rests. 

When the club signed him from Real Sociedad in 2014, it knew it was getting a serious talent but probably couldn’t foresee this. At the time, Simeone simply said the Frenchman would give his side “options in attack.” But two years on, in this unique two-man era, Griezmann now stands as a contender for the odd but still significant title of “world’s third-best player.” 

In this context, Euro 2016 was notable. Prior to the tournament, Pogba was probably considered to be ahead of Griezmann. But the man moulded and shaped by “Cholismo” has moved in front of his compatriot for now, perhaps moving into a space in which his competitors are Neymar, Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale.

At 25, he’s in his prime and the second-youngest player in that bunch. And he’s now the man who will determine the heights the Simeone era will reach at Atletico for one simple reason: Never before has Simeone had a player like this. 

Since late 2011, the Argentinian coach has achieved the astonishing on the banks of the Manzanares, and the list of those who’ve shone under him is long: Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Diego Godin, Koke, Gabi, Tiago, Filipe Luis, Juanfran, …

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