Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann said that he made the right choice by staying at Atletico Madrid. The 27-year old Frenchman was heavily linked to a Barcelona move with a release clause of £88 million in his contract. However, just before the World Cup, Griezmann said that he will be signing a contract extension at Atletico. This will keep him at the club till 2022.
Antoine Griezmann played 57 minutes in Atletico Madrid’s UEFA Super Cup win against Real Madrid at Tallinn last night. Atletico took the lead in only the first minute thanks to Diego Costa. However, Real equalized through Karim Benzema before Sergio Ramos’ penalty put them in front. Costa scored his second of the match in the 79th minute to send the match into extra time. In extra time, Saul Niguez and Koke scored to win a third UEFA Super Cup title for Atletico Madrid.
This was Antoine Griezmann’s only second match after returning from a successful World Cup. Griezmann scored four goals and won the Bronze Ball at the tournament.
Following Atletico’s triumph, Griezmann said about his contract extension, “I stayed because there was a good project. I have confidence in this club, in Cholo [Simeone]. Today I saw that I was not wrong.
The 27-year old added, “I was running in water a bit because it was my second game. In the end the important thing was to get ahead on the scoreboard, we made a very complete final. We know that physically the two teams have not reached 100 per cent, the key was the desire to win. It was time for us to win the UEFA Super Cup again, it was very important to start the season like this.”
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone believes that Griezmann can be a top contender for the 2018 Ballon d’Or. The former Argentina skipper said before the match, “The Ballon d’Or is a decision that those who know about this will have to make but it is clear that Griezmann is well positioned. Football is marvellous as nobody has one truth – you can win in different ways. We saw that again with France winning at the World Cup, with some characteristics similar to Atletico.”
Atletico Madrid begin their La Liga campaign against Valencia on Sunday.
