Griezmann is the most underrated player this century – and it’s not even close!

Robin Bairner

• 23 Mar 2024 06:52 CDT
• 4 min read

On Saturday, Antoine Griezmann’s astonishing record of having played 84 successive internationals for France will come to an end.

An ankle injury has been too much for the crafty forward to overcome and so for the first time since 2017, Didier Deschamps will name a team that will not contain the Atletico Madrid star.

His run has been extraordinary, including 28 goals and 22 assists, not to mention three major tournaments and one World Cup win. The run stretches 40 more matches than any other France player has previously managed and nine more than Luka Modric, who is on a 75-game streak with Croatia.

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It’s often said that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, but while the French are acutely aware of Griezmann’s talents, this appreciation does not always extend past his homeland’s borders.

Indeed, Griezmann is the most underrated player of the 21st century – and it’s not even close.

Had he reached the heights with a Real Madrid or a Barcelona, the 33-year-old would be universally acknowledged as one of the leading players of his generation. Unfortunately, his failed spell at Barca will be the stick used to beat him, yet it is the one blemish on his otherwise impeccable career.

He might fall short of a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi, but Griezmann has been front and centre of what has been a golden age for both Atletico Madrid and France. This is not a coincidence given his qualities.

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An outstanding career

Having started his career by winning the Segunda Division with Real Sociedad in 2010, Griezmann has since touched the pinnacle of the game. He was, after all, the star performer of the 2018 World Cup, eclipsing Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba. Somehow, he was voted only the third-best player of the tournament behind Luka Modric and Eden Hazard.

Griezmann was subsequently overlooked in the Ballon d’Or honours as he finished third that same year, but perhaps the biggest insult to the Frenchman was a 21st-placed finish in 2023.

‘Griezou’ had put up stellar numbers for Atleti in LaLiga, being directly involved in goals 31 times in across the year, and had led Les Bleus to within a penalty shootout of back-to-back World Cup titles.

Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, who had an obviously worse year, involved in only 23 LaLiga goals and resting at home while Griezmann was helping France to second in Qatar, finished 12th.

And now as the curtain comes down on Griezmann’s international record, surely one of the great footballing achievements of the first quarter of the century, he still cannot get the acclaim he deserves.

One suspects that even as France’s performances dip without their talisman, his absence from the team will once again be overlooked as the overriding reason.