Can Griezmann win Champions League to depart Atlético for MLS on highest of highs?

As Atlético Madrid headed down the Metropolitano tunnel, having simply eradicated Barcelona to succeed in the UEFA Champions League semifinals, one participant peeled away from the remainder.

The crew had already applauded the group, beginning with the stadium’s Fondo Sur earlier than circling the sphere, however Antoine Griezmann wished extra. Hesitating on the touchline, he spontaneously raced again out alone, bouncing throughout the turf, clapping his palms above his head.

For a minute, Griezmann was the one man on the pitch, main the celebrations of the tens of 1000’s of followers who had stayed behind. Griezmann, so typically Atlético’s on-field conductor, was doing it once more. He danced, punching the air, as his crew headed to a spot they hadn’t been since 2017: Europe’s closing 4.

“Are you aware how stunning it’s to be within the Champions League semifinals?” Atlético’s beaming head coach Diego Simeone requested afterward. “Phwoar.” Griezmann’s dance stated the identical factor in a easy motion.

– Stream each LaLiga match LIVE all season lengthy on ESPN+ (U.S.)
– Griezmann alone cannot salvage Orlando’s rough-looking rebuild
– Why Rayo Vallecano’s European run is the miracle of the season

Nonetheless, Griezmann will go away Atlético and LaLiga for MLS this summer time to hitch Orlando Metropolis, a membership that originally wished him to hitch earlier than the MLS switch window closed however finally agreed to a summer time arrival. He is aware of his time left in Madrid is brief, and each second is treasured. At 35, he will not see many extra nights like this, with 69,000 followers within the palm of his hand.

Griezmann is that this Atlético crew’s coronary heart and soul, a membership legend — their all-time main scorer and fourth-highest look holder. He’s additionally, alongside Julián Álvarez, the crew’s finest and most necessary participant proper now, even on the very finish.

“Coaching with him day by day, there are moments the place you assume ‘perhaps you would keep a bit longer,'” Ademola Lookman, who joined Atlético in January, tells ESPN. “I would not say he is shocked me, as a result of he is a legend in soccer, for what he is dropped at the sport, for what he represents. Seeing that shut up each single day is one thing you respect and study from. It is an absolute pleasure.”

Since Griezmann’s departure was first trailed in February, his season has became a farewell tour. Within the final month, he and Atlético have confronted one enormous sport after one other, because the fixture record has been stuffed with significant matches with a excessive diploma of issue.

On March 22, Atlético performed Actual Madrid within the derby. Then they performed Barcelona — the crew Griezmann contentiously left them for, earlier than returning — thrice, in LaLiga and the Champions League. Within the Copa del Rey closing on April 18, Griezmann performed in opposition to his first membership, Actual Sociedad. And subsequent up it is Arsenal, a crew Griezmann helped defeat on the best way to successful his solely main trophy with Atlético: the UEFA Europa League in 2018.

Atlético’s efficiency on this punishing run has been a distillation of what the crew is all about, for good and dangerous. “That is Atleti,” Simeone stated after they squeezed nervously previous Barcelona 4-3 within the Copa semifinals, successful the primary leg 4-0, earlier than nearly blowing the return.

Atleti means struggling, and doing issues the exhausting approach. Their victories — reminiscent of digging deep to remove Barça within the Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on mixture, regardless of a 2-1 loss within the second leg — are sometimes agonizing. Their defeats, like being crushed on penalties by La Actual on this month’s Copa closing to disclaim Griezmann his first main home trophy with Atlético, are much more excruciating.

Griezmann’s profession has been equally outlined by extremes. He has gained one FIFA World Cup with France (2018), and misplaced one other closing (2022). He made himself a hero at Atlético, infuriated followers by becoming a member of Barça, after which got here house to make amends. He has gained the Europa League, Spanish Supercopa and UEFA Tremendous Cup with Atlético, however by no means the Copa del Rey, and by no means LaLiga. And now he is two video games away from one other Champions League closing.

The final time he performed in membership soccer’s largest match, in 2016, he missed a penalty in regular time earlier than changing one other in a dropping shootout to Actual Madrid. What might need been Atlético’s best night time grew to become their most painful. That is Atleti. That is Griezmann.

---

Griezmann already among the many greats

“Antoine is a membership legend,” says Mario Suárez — an Atlético academy graduate who was a first-team common between 2010 and 2015, a former teammate of Griezmann, and now an ESPN analyst. “For me, [club captain] Koke is the membership’s best legend, as a youth participant who made his approach up, a ‘one-club man,’ and the participant who’s performed probably the most video games [for Atlético].

“However Griezmann is the membership’s all-time highest scorer, and he is the foreign-born participant who’s performed most video games in LaLiga. And he is so, so good. He is a participant who’s tremendous clever. I used to be in a position to get pleasure from enjoying with him, and now I get pleasure from him as a fan. I hope he will get a superb farewell. You need to say goodbye to legends the best way they deserve, and he is one in all them.”

The numbers put Griezmann firmly among the many most necessary figures in LaLiga historical past. Solely three gamers — goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, winger Joaquín Sánchez and midfielder Raúl García — have made extra appearances than his 557 within the competitors. Solely 10 gamers — a Who’s Who record of icons like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Telmo Zarra, Karim Benzema and Hugo Sánchez — have scored extra LaLiga objectives than his 204.

Griezmann was already an impressive prospect at Actual Sociedad — the Basque crew that gave him an opportunity as a youth in 2005 whereas French golf equipment doubted him — earlier than signing for Atlético. He joined Simeone’s facet in 2014 at their peak, reigning Spanish champions and Champions League finalists, and grew right into a talisman.

In 2016, Griezmann ranked third within the males’s Ballon d’Or — behind Ronaldo and Messi — after reaching the Champions League closing with Atlético and the UEFA European Championship closing with France. Two years later, he was voted third once more, this time having gained the Europa League and the 2018 World Cup.

Becoming a member of Barcelona in 2019 was an formidable misstep. A yr earlier he had rejected the prospect to take action, in a course of made public in his self-produced, LeBron James-inspired movie “The Resolution.” When he finally arrived at Camp Nou, there was no pure match for Griezmann in a facet constructed round Messi. Even so, his influence — with 13 LaLiga objectives and assists in 2019-20, and 20 in 2020-21 — was larger than many may keep in mind.

Again at Atlético since 2021, he needed to work to win the followers again, with humility and energy. He succeeded, grew to become a membership record-breaker, and one of many crew’s captains. Solely a serious trophy has eluded him, most not too long ago on this month’s Copa del Rey closing. Atlético final gained the league 5 years in the past, however Luis Suárez was that crew’s point of interest, with Griezmann nonetheless at Barça.

However past the trophies, stats and data, there have been numerous moments of seemingly easy, unimaginable aptitude and invention.

Watch Griezmann’s purpose at Actual Valladolid on Nov. 30, 2024, when he shared a one-two with Álvarez earlier than spinning 360 levels, with a dancer’s grace, to the touch the ball previous the goalkeeper. After which watch it once more, and once more, on repeat. It is mesmeric.

The Valladolid crowd, with their crew in the course of a relegation battle, gave him a standing ovation.

American dream

A transfer to MLS was at all times Griezmann’s long-term plan. He is a U.S. sports activities obsessive, who has even hosted an NFL present on YouTube.

“I’ve at all times stated my goal is to finish up [in MLS],” Griezmann advised ESPN in 2023. “It is my goal, to be there and finish my profession there, to have the ability to benefit from the sports activities there. I am a giant fan.”

The query was when. Within the first half of this season, he appeared to have been sidelined — Simeone used him instead twice as typically as he did as a starter, with Álex Baena and Thiago Almada earmarked to interchange him.

A transfer to Orlando, even earlier than the season’s finish, emerged as a critical prospect. “He is in a spot the place he deserves to decide on what he desires to do,” Simeone admitted in February.

The one downside: Atlético have been nonetheless in rivalry for silverware, within the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, and Griezmann was rising in affect. He began each legs of the Copa semifinals in opposition to Barcelona, each legs of the Champions League round-of-16 tie in opposition to Tottenham Hotspur, and the LaLiga derby with Actual Madrid.

On March 24, his transfer to Orlando was confirmed — however it could wait till the season was over. He had unfinished enterprise with Atlético.

‘Thanks for all the things you’ve got given us’

None of Atlético, Simeone or Griezmann have ever gained the Champions League. The membership has reached three European Cup finals, in 1974, 2014 and 2016; Simeone coached two of them; and Griezmann performed in a single. It’s their white whale.

However nonetheless, because the crew ready to play Barcelona on this month’s quarterfinals, there was time for a second of surprising sentimentality from Simeone, as he interrupted Atlético’s press officer as he started the pre-match information convention.

“Earlier than [journalists] ask any questions, I wished to thanks,” Simeone advised Griezmann, who was sat subsequent to him. “Thanks in your exhausting work. Thanks in your humility. You are an admirable particular person for younger folks, in a society that wants folks such as you.

“Thanks for all the things you’ve got given us, all the things you are giving us, and all the things I am going to oblige you to maintain giving us. Thanks in your dedication, for a way you’ve got at all times behaved as an expert. I take into account you a participant, after which a good friend.

“God keen, we’ll play 5 extra Champions League video games. Maintain having fun with it. I like you. If an Atleti fan have been sat right here at this time, they’d be saying the identical factor. I determine with them. I am your coach, and you already know if you happen to cease operating tomorrow, you are out of the crew.

“That is all. Sorry. I simply wanted to say that.”

Simeone had selected the day that he would say one thing, a supply near the coach advised ESPN. However neither the membership, nor Griezmann, had any concept what was coming. The speech was unscripted; Simeone spoke from the center.

On Wednesday, again on the Metropolitano, the pair will go once more, chasing the Champions League dream one final time.