Griezmann is back

Griezmann is back. Now yes, definitive. The world champion Griezmann, the bronze Griezmann in the Ballon d’Or. The body arrived first, in that tachycardic closing of the market. The rest, however, did not accompany him. The physique, the head, the confidence. It was Griezmann but it was not Griezmann. Only for Simeone it was. That he put it despite his gray premiere (as a starter, by the way, against Espanyol). That he kept putting it despite the whistles. That he insisted despite the fact that the numbers of his first games, without passes, without goals, without assists, they resembled him more with Barça’s Griezmann than that of Atleti.

In Milan it began to appear. The one that Cholo expected. A goal. Your first in the back to school red and white. It was September 28. Almost a month later, the rest were at Atleti. Griezmann in the tailcoat over his overalls. That Griezmann who is so many footballers at the same time. With game, significance and descent in the goal. That he puts glitter on each play. The Griezmann of the cape with Simeone’s signature stamp. The Griezmann who so longed for him to leave. It took a month but, since then, he has been on a good streak. Good news to hold on to in this black October (from stop to stop only one victory, with two defeats and three draws) for some rojiblancos who, by the way, have stopped whistling.

Eleventh in minutes (729 at Atleti, where he missed the first three days because he was still from Barça), he is already second in the goal, with 5, behind Luis Suárez (8). An appointment that he has not stopped missing since he made that first one to Milan. Match by match. With four goals in the last five games. To Liverpool in the Metropolitan he scored two. Three days later, Levante in LaLiga. Against Betis he did not convert but he was, with assistance, as against Valencia, where he scored and gave it (to Suárez), in addition to participating in a key way in the play of Vrsaljko’s goal. As before, as until he left. His position, free behind Suárez’s back, makes him grow. And when Griezmann is well, he is a footballer who always improves others. Koke, one of his best friends in the rojiblanco dressing room, the captain.

As soon as he landed in Madrid, in fact, before his official presentation, which in these times of COVID is the photo with Enrique Cerezo, president, and the red-and-white under the dome of the Metropolitan, got a haircut. It is not trivial. The red-and-white stands accustomed to their different and daring hairstyles, something inherited from their mother, it was after The decision, when he announced that he was staying at Atleti, that Griezmann began to grow his hair long, a la Beckham, his idol as a child, from there to always play with long sleeves. A hair that was not cut again until returning to Cholo, two years later. The fans were asking for it. The same one who, after marking Milan, asked for forgiveness. Scared the ghosts. What he does best: flying with the Cholo.