Griezmann up with greats

V FRANCE 2PM, BBC

Given the superstars available to France boss Didier Deschamps it is understandable that Antoine Griezmann is on occasions nudged into the shadows. With Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante in the squad there is precious little elbow room in the spotlight.

But ahead of the striker’s 50th consecutive appearance for his country, his manager has no doubt where to place Griezmann in the grand scheme of things.

That, said Deschamps yesterday, is as one of the greatest ever to play the game.

“The stats speak for themselves,” said the France manager ahead of the Group F clash with Hungary.

“You can see the influence he has for the French national team through the goals he scores and the assists.

“If we then add to that the capacity to change the game, to get stuck in when we need to defend when we don’t have the ball, he is one of the greatest players of all time both in Europe and worldwide.

“Antoine is an offensive player, a creative player who has this ability to think outside the box and he has proven it to us time and again. It is remarkable.

“He is happy to get back and defend – sometimes a little too much – but I’m not going to take this from him. It is completely natural for him to do that and important for our balance.”

Griezmann,

30, has had plenty of plaudits in the past, including Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament when France reached the final in 2016.

But Deschamps believes his unbroken run of appearances, stretching back through 50 fixtures to

August 2017 says as much about the player.

“He’s no longer 20 years old but he looks after himself and he is a great professional.

“He’s been spared injuries and you only have to look at his statistics to see how important he is.”

The tournament favourites can confirm progress to the knockout stages with a win at the Puskas Arena – with Hungary needing to get something from the game.

Forward Roland Sallai insists the ‘home’ side are aiming at the very least to make the expected 60,000 crowd proud of their efforts. “Our task is to perform to the best of our abilities from the first whistle until the last, and come off the pitch with heads held high,” he said.