While Antoine Griezmann shines again with Atlético in La Liga, Sport looks back at one of the reasons for the Frenchman’s failure at FC Barcelona.
Along with Jude Bellingham, he is the best player in La Liga since the start of the season. Antoine Griezmann has once again become the radiant player he was with Atlético de Madrid, and the Mâconnais has definitively put behind him the memory of his disappointing time at FC Barcelona.
This Friday, Sport returns to the Frenchman’s failure in Catalonia and in particular to one of the reasons for this marriage which did not work. The Catalan daily thus evokes this day in June 2018 when Griezmann, in a documentary, announced his “decision” to stay one more season at Atlético. At the time, FC Barcelona extended its arms to him, and the icon Lionel Messi had even publicly confided that Griezmann would be welcome.
Barça did not appreciate
On the Blaugrana side, this about-face by Griezmann, which is reminiscent of that of Kylian Mbappé with Real Madrid in 2022, was very poorly received. And the locker room executives were very surprised to see Barça once again interested in the Frenchman the following summer. President Josep Maria Bartomeu denied the rumors to his players… before finally recruiting Griezmann at a high price, for 120 million euros and 15 million euros in bonuses.
“Leo Messi even asked Ernesto Valverde where Griezmann was going to play. The Blaugrana coach at the time did not have a clear answer to give to the Argentine,” tells Sport, which recalls that Barça was then in crisis after the 8-2 conceded against Bayern Munich in the Champions League in August 2020. “Things were not going well either on or off the pitch and Griezmann’s adaptation to the locker room was never ideal”adds the Catalan daily.
On the pitch, the graft did not take place between Messi and Griezmann. Outside, the two men did not become friends, but they were not at odds either. “Antoine has always shown Messi an almost reverential respect, concludes Sport. And vice versa. »
