Griezmann, the Little Prince reduced to a soldier

Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann shoots against Pau Torres and Dani Parejo.Enric Fontcuberta / EFE

A footballer named El Principito arrived at the Camp Nou in the summer of 2019, world champion in 2018 and the best player at Euro 2016 with France, a famous finisher for Real Sociedad and Atlético de Madrid, teams in which he averaged about 20 goals per season, and protagonist in 2018 of a famous documentary entitled

in which he communicated his continuity in the Wanda Metropolitano club.

That television staging enlarged the figure of Antoine Griezmann (Mâcon, 29 years old) when a year later he signed for Barcelona for 120 million, an amount to which 15 million was later added in compensation after the rojiblanco club discovered that the negotiations of the player with the Barcelona directive had begun in March, moment in which the clause of rescission was still of 200 million.

The money and the delay inflated a footballer who was also not to the liking of a squad that yearned to recover the Berlin 2015 trident: Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar.

So the French striker had to compete with the memory of the Brazilian, as it already happened to Coutinho and Dembélé, and carry the sanmbenito of being a whim of the president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, whose lawyer was also, curiously, an advisor to Griezmann.

It is not strange that it was difficult for him to find his place at Barça.

Griezmann stopped being an aspirant to the throne in the reign of Leo Messi and happened to be called "the posturitas" or the "flirtatious" by some of his critics in the changing room of the Camp Nou.

None of them liked that he celebrated his double against Betis with confetti.

He scored 15 goals in 48 games and was a substitute in the martyrdom of Lisbon.

There were serious doubts last summer about his continuity at the Camp Nou.

Until Koeman arrived and has invited critics to stop looking at Griezmann as a celebrity, nothing to do with the expendable striker because he plays in the same area as Messi, and demands respect for an excellent team player who has put himself at the service of the 10th in the same way that in France he is a servant of Mbappé at Deschamps' wish.

Griezmann now defends for two in the national team and in Barcelona.

It is enough to review his statistics against Villarreal to certify that he shoots less (1 shot), receives fewer passes (25) than Messi (64), Ansu Fati (51) and Coutinho (46) and, on the other hand, runs more than any forward , 9.72 kilometers by 9.6 of the Hispano-Guinean, 9.3 of the Brazilian or 7.3 of the Argentine, and their breaks allow goals like the first two of Sunday's 4-0 at the Camp Nou.

Griezmann starts from the right side towards the center, drags the markers and moves very well into space in a team with plenty of players who want the ball at the foot such as Messi and Coutinho.

In exchange for losing stripes, Griezmann has been recycled as the best strikers, converted into Pedro, even into Eto'o or much better into Henry.

"I learned to play football again at the age of 30", recalls the French striker that Barça joined from Arsenal in 2007 and achieved glory with Guardiola.

Griezmann has recovered his spirits with Koeman.

"I am very happy with Antoine", certifies the coach.

"Besides that he can play in different positions, he gives us depth, works hard and well, his mentality is positive, his unchecking is very good and he is a danger," says Koeman, who met with the footballer before starting the course to explain his role to him after there is no trace of the trident and he opts for extreme spikers at 4-2-3-1.

In the eyes of those who claim the Little Prince, Griezmann has become a soldier, sometimes even an invisible player, especially for Messi.

The look of the coaches, on the other hand, see in the French a player who sacrifices himself for the team, a sign of submission to the candidates for the Ballon d'Or or maybe waiting to sing victory as the leader he feels since he triumphed at Atlético.