In an interview with UEFA, the 2018 World Champion talks about his final dream before leaving Atletico Madrid at the end of the season.
Qualified for the Champions League semi-finals with Atletico Madrid, French striker Antoine Griezmann revealed in an interview with UEFA on Monday that he dreamed of winning the Champions League this season for the first time and closing the wound of his lost final in 2016.
The 2018 World Champion, who is set to leave Atletico to join Orlando in the United States, reflected on that painful episode ten years ago when the Colchoneros lost a second Champions League final in three years to Real Madrid, after Griezmann missed a penalty hitting the crossbar. “It’s not something I think about every day, but whenever we talk about the Champions League with friends or teammates, that moment always comes back up, that of 2016, the penalty,” explained Griezmann in the interview.
“The only way to truly heal”
Winning the Champions League with his beloved club, at the age of 35, before flying off to the United States, “would allow to heal a very deep wound.” According to him, “it would be the only way to truly heal” this disappointment, followed by another lost final at Euro 2016 with the French national team. The French striker, voted the best player in the Spanish league this season, led Atletico to the Champions League final with seven goals in thirteen matches, including a brace against Barcelona in the quarter-finals and the qualifying goal against Bayern in the semis.
He finished third in the Ballon d’Or rankings, won by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who was the winner of the Champions League and the Euro.
