🇫🇷 Antoine Griezmann : un MONUMENT du football français
Apr 23, 2025
I dream that the team makes the front page of the newspaper with "he's coming back" like a certain player in 2005
Today, it is with a deep emotion that I announce my retirement as a player of the French team.
Football fans in France have had a real shock, because it's not just anyone.
We knew the Platini generation, the Zidane generation, and for 10 years now, we can talk about the Griezmann generation.
After Yoris and Varane two years ago, and it's a down time for other reasons, and after this summer's Euro, Olivier Giroud,
it is now Antoine Griezmann who announces his international retirement.
Grisou, this fan of David Beckham who always wanted to play in the long run, and whose style of play had a certain class.
From his tears at the 2014 World Cup, to the role of goal scorer at the Euro 2016, to world champion in 2018,
and a totally unexpected reincarnation as a midfielder at the 2022 World Cup.
The channel is pushing its program to pay tribute to the top 5, top 3, put it where you want,
the greatest players in the history of the French team.
Without forgetting, of course, the background question, the rather curious timing of this announcement,
between the question of the armband and the selection process over the last few months.
We didn't think we'd do it so soon, but Antoine Griezmann deserves it.
An episode, a legend.
Football fans, if you like retro jerseys like this one, these Griezmann jerseys from 2016,
Griezmann number 7, know that I got it on Vintage Football Area, a French reseller of retro jerseys.
That's why I like them a lot, because it's a French reseller.
But there's not just jerseys, there's shorts, scarves, overcoats.
And you certainly know the concept of the Box Mystère.
It's very simple, you pay a fixed price, you give your size, and you don't know in advance the jersey you're going to receive.
But don't worry, if you don't want to receive some tunics, you can write it in the box right here.
The Box Mystère is really a great way to give a gift to a friend, especially as we're slowly approaching the end of the year holidays.
And since it's Antoine Griezmann's retirement, to exceptional events, exceptional contests.
Meet me on my X account, formerly Twitter, where I'm playing with my partner Vintage Football Area,
the blue jersey of L'Equipe de France 2024, Pro version, with Griezmann's jersey in the back.
To participate, it's very simple, be careful, you have to follow all the steps.
1. Subscribe to the channel.
2. Subscribe to my X account, Amax de Foot, as well as to the X account of Vintage Football Area.
And as soon as you find the post on the contest game, all you have to do is like and retweet.
A draw will take place in the next few weeks, and I will designate the winner at that time.
But in the meantime, if you want a retro jersey right now on Vintage Football Area,
take advantage of the code MAXMAX, where you will have a 10% discount on all the articles on the site.
And if you want to participate in the contest game, well, it costs nothing.
Try your luck, and I wish you good luck.
Now, let's go for the video.
Born in Macon in 1991, the one who will later be nicknamed Grizzy or Grisou,
will not be trained in France, constantly rejected by the hexagonal clubs because of a physique considered too frilly.
Yes, yes, so if we judge the training to the French who always select the same kind of profiles,
big, strong, powerful, who run straight, guys like Xavi, Iniesta or Messi, for example,
may never have left a training center in France.
But at the age of 14, the Spanish club Real Sociedad spots him and offers him a contract almost immediately.
It is therefore on the Basque country side that Antoine Griezmann will climb the ladders,
until his first appearance in September 2009 with the club of San Sebastian during a match of the King's Cup.
Then in the second Spanish division, the native of Macon begins to pierce within Real Sociedad,
and his talents are worth being called up to the team of France Espoir,
where he won in 2010, at the age of less than 19, the European Championship alongside a certain Alexandre Lacazette.
After his 20 years, Antoine improves his physical condition considerably,
and as the left back of Real Sociedad in 2013, he impresses him in the Champions League dam in Lyon,
where he signs this little jewel.
At the end of this duel, the Real Sociedad of Griezmann, Seferovic and Carlos Bela
deprives Loel of a group phase of the Champions League, and quite clearly.
And precisely, this 2013-2014 season will be that of the explosion of Antoine Griezmann.
20 goals and 4 decisive passes in 50 matches,
he will fuel to such an extent that the great team of France will finally make him soft eyes.
Finally, the big one, the Blues come out of a difficult period,
and while they have just acquired against Ukraine a heroic qualification for the 2014 World Cup,
as early as March, on the occasion of a friendly match against the Netherlands,
Didier Deschamps convokes Griezmann in blue,
and already makes a strong impression, obviously on the left side,
taking advantage of Frank Ribéry's physical guts, who will not go to the World Cup.
Antoine Griezmann then takes a place in the list of the 23,
and will also score his first goal in blue against Paraguay in a friendly match in June 2014.
And in addition to very convincing performances,
Antoine almost takes a place in the starting eleven.
And we remember that at that time, the French team had a great need to forget the fiasco of 2010
and a Euro missed in 2012,
and Griezmann will then be part of this French team that will rise in power.
And this until the quarterfinals,
where France crosses the road of the future champions of the German world.
And there, an image will remain,
that of a tearful Griezmann after the elimination of the Blues.
And that, in the context of the time,
while the Blues had just gone through a very dark period,
it was so refreshing.
These tears were a bit ours.
And this is how he will begin to make a place in the hearts of the French.
Everything goes very quickly for the young man of 22 years,
very coveted by many clubs,
so much so that in 2014, he signs at Atletico Madrid,
where he explodes his counters,
with 25 goals from his first season,
without any confused competition.
Interesting fact,
the coach of the Colchoneros, Diego Simeone,
will make him play in several positions,
putting him on the left, like Real Sociedad,
but also at the front post,
and even as a second striker,
placed at the time behind Mario Mandzukic.
In fact, Griezmann is at the center of the system,
and he even becomes the best scorer of this team,
which will reach in 2016,
neither more nor less, the final of the Champions League.
But against rival neighbors,
Real Madrid, which led 1-0 in this final,
on penalty,
and Griezmann is in charge of hitting him.
The Colchoneros will then equalize
to bring the Meringues to the shooting session,
where Antoine Griezmann will present himself again
against Keylor Navas,
and this time, he will score.
You really have to be brave in these conditions,
but nevertheless,
football is a team effort,
and it will be insufficient to lift the Champions League,
lost to shooting against Real.
But whatever,
the year 2016 was perfectly launched
for the one who was named
best player of the Liga in 2016,
and just a month later,
the French team is about to play the Euro at home.
After an opening match
against Romania,
where he will find the post,
Didier Deschamps puts him on the bench
in the second match against Albania,
but the Blues are in trouble,
0-0 until the entrance of Antoine Griezmann,
and here he is, who unblocks the situation.
So,
he will become an essential element
under the striped jersey,
because in the round of 16 against Ireland,
France 0 at half-time,
and the one who will free him in the second period,
it's still him,
and this time, he scores the double,
just that.
He will then participate in the festival against Iceland
in the quarter-finals,
before becoming definitively
in the semi-final against Germany,
a true national hero.
In the official competition,
Germany is THE best player of the French team,
we have to go back to the World Cup 58
and the demonstration of the Blues 6-3
in the match for third place against Germany.
In the round of 16,
Antoine Griezmann will score a new double,
and France eliminates Germany,
world champion in title.
But unfortunately,
in the final at the Stade de France against Portugal,
like many players tonight,
the best scorer of the Euro 2016
and his six achievements
will pass aside
and let Portugal take the Euro.
But this wonderful year 2016
will crown Antoine Griezmann
while still being on the podium of the Ballon d'Or.
He even embodies the face of the new Euro
and will continue to impress
until reaching a culminating point in 2018,
a year where he wins the Europa League
with Atletico Madrid
by scoring a new double,
this time in the final,
for a 3-0 win at the Olympique de Marseille.
A perfect transition for him
on the eve of flying with the Blues
for Russia towards the World Cup.
In a position of 10 forward
or 2nd striker,
behind Giroud and next to Blaise Matuidi
and Kylian Mbappé,
it may not have been the flamboyant Griezmann
in this phase of direct elimination
where he will score in the quarter-finals
against Uruguay,
while containing his joy
with respect for his Uruguayan teammates
of Atletico, including his daughter's sponsor
Diego Godin.
And in the final against Croatia,
while the Blues are not very good,
he will really be the central element
of this French team,
one of the few to survive
on July 15, 2018.
Griezmann will be involved
in 3 of the 4 French matches
of his second star.
Hello Griezmann?
It's the coach.
Can you come down? I want to see you.
Always smiling with his Blues teammates
and especially Paul Pogba,
whom we know is very close,
Antoine Griezmann is not the kind
to take the lead.
Antoine Griezmann thus embodies
this cheerful French team,
always in a good mood
and not falling behind.
As the years go by,
Antoine scores more and more goals
but still can't make it to the next round.
In the Champions League quarter-finals,
Atletico, which had won 2-0
against Juve,
suffered a huge comeback.
Antoine wants to give himself
a chance to take the lead
in the Champions League one day.
Recruited in 2019
for nearly 120 million euros
by Barça,
Antoine scored
15 goals
and 4 goals in 48 matches.
He was even the most used player
of the season
in front of Messi and Suarez.
The following season,
he will do even better
with 20 goals and 12 goals
in all competitions,
as many goals as Messi.
His adaptation time was long,
he often missed his early seasons
under the white jersey at Granada.
We can feel that Antoine
wants to come back to Atletico,
where he feels the best,
while Diego Simeone's men
have just won La Liga,
a title that Antoine Griezmann
still hasn't managed to win.
Meanwhile, in blue,
he becomes the third player
after Thierry Henry and Olivier Giroud
to surpass Michel Platini
as the best scorer in the history
of the French team.
In 2021, after a forgotten euro,
Antoine Griezmann wins
the League of Nations with the French team
in front of Blessé, Benzema,
Koukou and even his friend Pogba.
Deschamps will then ask him
to go down a notch
in a role he has never played before.
And from the first match against Australia,
the Atletico player
has been able to display
all his technical palette
and his excellent reading of the game
that transformed him into an actor
of placement and replacement,
his position sometimes very low
to participate in defensive phases,
his long passes, his short passes
and even his moments.
He will play a brilliant World Cup 2022,
except in the final,
as again most of his teammates,
France will bow to Argentina
and will not get a third star,
but Antoine is part of the very closed circle
of the French having played
two World Cup finals in a row.
30 years have passed
and after the international retirement
of Hugo Lloris,
the inestimable experience of such a player
would well deserve the captain's armband.
But in March 2023,
the French coach will prefer
to table on the long term
and it would seem that Antoine
lives this as a lack of recognition
after all he has done for the Blues.
But there is also an inevitable fact
and it's normal, time goes by
and the level of Antoine Griezmann
is no longer the same as before.
And during the Euro 2024 in Germany,
Deschamps will again tighten the sponge
by aligning him on the right side,
a position that does not suit him at all.
We are very far from the Antoine Griezmann
we were used to,
and we do not even title him
for the semi-final against Spain.
Antoine's smile has disappeared,
his enthusiasm too.
In September 2024,
the first post-Euro meeting
will also be the last
for this historic pillar of the Blues.
And again,
the most experienced French on the field
is in trouble,
to the point of wondering
if we will ever see the great Griezmann again.
In any case, the fan had yet to affirm
several times his wish
and on September 30, 2024,
the best passer-by in the history of the Blues
publishes this message on social networks.
Today,
it is with a deep emotion
that I announce my retirement
as a player of the French team.
Antoine Griezmann
was the cuddly toy of the French public,
the last real creator of the French team
where there are only stereotyped players left.
And even if since then
he has become a dad three times,
Antoine Griezmann has always remained
this child full of freshness.
Even during the Paris games,
he was at his best,
he did not take his head,
he does not care what we think of him
and despite some controversies
that are more the fruit of his clumsiness
than what he really embodies.
Antoine, you have been the metronome
of Liquide de France for 10 years,
one of the faces,
if not the face of the renaissance of the Blues
after the dark years,
you made us happy,
you made us laugh
and despite your not always successful celebrations,
at the end of 137 selections,
the third most capable French player
at equal with Giroud,
Antoine scored 44 goals,
4th best scorer in history,
he is the best passer in the history of the Blues
in front of Thierry Henry
and of course,
a crazy series of 84 consecutive selections
between 2017 and 2024
show the considerable importance of this player
during this period
and let's say the same,
let's not be afraid of the history of Liquide de France.
But Griezmann also wrote history in the club,
winning the title of Luis Aragonés
becoming the best scorer in the history of the Colchoneros,
a legend.
So obviously, the announcement of his retirement
in mid-September or October now,
it's a timing that raises questions
because it does not happen after a Euro or a World Cup,
it had not filtered at all,
really, we were all taken short,
but it is necessary to note that given the context,
since you know that Liquide de France is still in decline
and as I said in a video I published about a month ago,
I think this is only the beginning.
For Antoine Griezmann to leave like that,
again we are talking about a major player
and it's curious,
in this story, there is a wolf.
So obviously, Dédé will tell us that everything is fine,
that he thanked Antoine Griezmann for everything, etc.
We think about a lot of things at the moment,
between the bracelet we preferred to give to Kylian Mbappé
rather than to him,
and it's not a secret, it affected him,
we have the impression that he played in all the offensive positions
and that after a while,
by forcing the sponge to its limits,
there is no more water,
he did everything for the Blues
and he had the class of Steyr,
this is what we recognize the real bosses.
I think he doesn't take pleasure anymore
and when you don't take pleasure anymore,
you don't have to worry, you have to say stop.
After Joris, Varane, Pogba,
Giroud for a few months
and now Antoine Griezmann,
we don't realize it but in two years,
these are the most popular players of the French team
who will never wear the blue jersey again
and that will make us all funny.
There are departures that hurt more than others
and yours Antoine
was lived like an earthquake
for all football fans in France,
we wish you the best for the next few years,
rest well champion,
enjoy Atletico, enjoy the family
and above all, take a break,
take the time to think
hoping maybe, we never know,
that before the World Cup 2026,
we are entitled to a last dance
because a player like you,
we will never replace him.
Goodbye Antoine and thank you.