We have a habit of saying that homecoming in football is never a good idea.
Antoine Griezmann is (for the moment) the perfect illustration.
Back at Atletico Madrid, the club with which he shone and reached his best level from 2014 to 2019, after a more than mixed stint in the ranks of FC Barcelona, "Grizou" is struggling to regain his superb.
Simple gloomy period or deeper evil?
The months will bring their share of answers, but one certainty remains, the Frenchman has been suffering for several weeks.
To discover
The complete calendar of the Blues
League standings
La Liga fixtures and results
Read alsoMercato: Erling Haaland at Manchester City, would it already be a better shot than Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid?
No goal since January 6, an endless series
His return to the resident of the Wanda Metropolitano does not go as he hoped.
The French international (104 caps for 42 goals scored) is going through a very bad patch in the Colchoneros jersey.
"Grizi" who participated in 33 games scored only 8 goals and delivered 4 assists in the current year.
Even more worryingly, Griezmann is experiencing a series of inefficiencies unlike him.
The native of Macon has not scored since January 6 and a Copa del Rey match against Rajo Majadahonda, a Spanish 3rd division club.
It has therefore been a total of fourteen games without finding the net since his return home.
His status seems to have crumbled despite Simeone's support
With only 3 games left to play for the "mattresses", Antoine Griezmann could end a season with less than 10 club goals for the first time since the 2011-2012 season when he was still playing in the colors of the Real Sociedad.
More than his performances, it is today his status under the orders of Diego Simeone that worries.
"Grizou" seems to have lost its influence in the game and was a substitute on Sunday evening in the clash won by his team against Real Madrid (1-0).
Yet “El Cholo” continues to believe in his playmaker “
He's closer, he's had several goalscoring situations and that brings him closer to what he's always done, which is to score.
These are stages, we are probably not used to seeing Griezmann score so few goals.
But I trust him, I have no doubt he will score again, he's a very important player for us
,” said Simeone after the win against Casa Blanca.
With the 2022 World Cup fast approaching and less than a month away from the next gathering of the Blues for the Nations League, the native of Macon will have to prove that he is still capable of leading his troops to success.
Fortunately for the Blues, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé have never seemed so strong and Griezmann is very rarely missing in the French team with which he generally takes the opportunity to remind what a fundamental player he can be in Didier Deschamps' system.
But before the return to the selection at the end of May, it remains to finish the work in the club.
To finally conclude a gloomy season.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/LWK5VCYPKCJNXGUFQDAIJVRK5A.jpg)
