Griezmann gets the full English
AS he moves towards another shot at Champions League glory with Atletico Madrid, it would be interesting to know what Antoine Griezmann makes of english football now.
For a game and a half against the Premier League champions, the little forward on the radar of elite english clubs may have wondered why everybody talks so highly of our game.
In Spain last week, Leicester rarely had the ball. For 45 minutes here at the King Power, they had plenty of it but did nothing interesting or intelligent with it.
And then we had the intense madness of last night’s second half. Griezmann and his teammates found themselves at the mercy of the english tumble dryer. A goal from Jamie Vardy, an increase in tempo, a quick turn of the dial marked ‘atmosphere’ and, as a consequence, a proper helter skelter game of football.
Atletico survived. They were always likely to do so once they scored their away goal. But at times they were hanging on. For a while, Leicester pummelled last year’s beaten Champions League finalists without pause.
Shots cannoned off bodies and flew narrowly wide. Leicester swung in corners and pumped diagonal balls forward. The crowd sensed a miracle. They are used to those here.
Atletico came through it and it is to their credit that they did so. But it was breathtaking at times and it may well have done the clubs wishing to sign Griezmann, such as Manchester United, a very large favour.
Objectively, there is no reason for the Frenchman to trade life in Spain for england. Griezmann competes for trophies every year at Atletico, his profile is globally high and he is very well paid. And he gets to live in Madrid.
So, if he thought a switch to United — a club currently in Champions League exile — would not necessarily advance him, he could be excused.
But then you have experiences like this. here, in a way, was the hard sell.
It is glib to call it unique because other matches around europe feature excitement and atmosphere. however, this was a very ‘english’ night and it is not an exaggeration to suggest that, at 26, Griezmann will not have experienced much like it before. here, in one 45-minute period of football, was the kernel of the english game’s appeal.
Some may say it was not pretty. But how do we define that, anyway?
It was compelling. Pretty enough, in other words, and part of the drama stemmed from the fact it was so unexpected.
At half-time, the tie felt over. TV sets across the country were presumably flicked to the channel showing Real Madrid v Bayern Munich.
Indeed, Atletico manager Diego Simeone had greeted the half-time whistle with a round of applause in recognition of a job well done by his team. Up until then, all the things Leicester must have feared Atletico would do, they had done.
The Spanish side did not rely on possession to control the game. They rarely do. But they still controlled the opening period through their organisation and their ability to consistently command the key areas of the field.
In their own penalty area, they were dominant and they were in control at the other end, too.
Atletico scored one goal — a beauty — and might have added another when Kasper Schmeichel was allowed to take down Yannick Carrasco in the penalty area without sanction.
So, the home team could only hope for improvement. Against Sevilla here in the last round, Leicester relied on familiar tactics and they worked.
What was overlooked then, though, is that Sevilla missed good chances including a late penalty. It was that, as much as anything, that saw Craig Shakespeare’s side go through.
Leicester run on adrenaline, though. Smash and grab has that effect. If Atletico approach a match like a game of chess, Leicester are more Buckaroo, and here it was a mule kick from the right foot of Vardy in the second period that sparked them.
Maybe it was the lost-looking nature of the cause that did it or maybe they are simply happier in the role of desperate underdog.
Whatever the case, Leicester terrified Atletico in the second half. ‘We were living in fear,’ said Simeone afterwards.
Leicester caused the visitors to lose their poise and that does not happen very often.
It was enthralling to watch and Griezmann, an increasingly isolated figure at the other end of the field, must have looked on in bemusement.
Yes, it would be very interesting to hear his view of english football after this.