The last game before Sunday that Griezmann had played with Atlético had been on May 18, 2019, at the Ciutat de Valencia, against Levante. Two years, three months and 26 days later, the Frenchman returned to Atlético, to wear the red and white shirt, although the shirt he was wearing was that blue that is decomposing until it ends in pink. And, although he almost went from signing to eleven, with only four days of training, the hope of his main supporter was great, in the signing and in his years as rojiblanco Simeone, in which Griezmann would return to be Griezmann. Cholo lined him up with Correa and Luis Suárez, modifying his drawing to concoct a 5-2-3 that turned out to be a disaster. Decomposed and disoriented, Espanyol beat them 1-0 at the end of the first 45 minutes. And it is that Griezmann who jumped on Sunday in Cornellà is not the Griezmann who left. Neither the Atleti.
It is curious but two years after his departure, if the eleven of that Atleti in the last day of 2018-19 is compared to that of Atlético in the fourth of 2021-22, only three footballers who were then, followed: Correa, Koke and Lemar (Oblak too, of course, but the Slovenian didn't play that game, Adam played it). And Lemar was precisely a substitute before the return of Antoine, the sacrificed (And who, when he entered, along with Kondogbia, Lodi and Carrasco, who played the 100 minutes of the match, changed Atletico's destiny, until they embraced victory). An absolutely different Atleti, forced to make a transition that summer in which Griezmann went to Barcelona, with the signing of eight footballers to collect the witness of the last first soldiers, and champions, of Cholo (Godín, Filipe and Juanfran): Trippier, Lodi, Felipe, Hermoso, Llorente, Herrera, João Félix and Saponjic.
A transition that could not be confirmed in the best way the following season, with the champion team. Meanwhile, Griezmann languished at Barça. Only his unquestionable sacrifice always stood out from him. But Barça signed him to be Atleti's Griezmann, decisive. His first games as culé this season, since Barça without Messi, zero was the dominator of his numbers. Zero shots, zero passes, zero everything. With Atlético in his first game he was not much better.
Because Griezmann has regained his smile, is where he wants to be, but his contribution in his rentrée was rather gray, as if he were still at Barça. Zero shots on goal, two off. Seven wrong passes (17 good ones), good deep passes, zero, long passes, also, zero patatero. Centers, one. Back passes, two. Recoveries, two (Carrasco, for example, there were seven). Turnovers, ten. Dribbled times, two. Only in one aspect did he stand out, a green sprout to hold on to, his smile, the footballer, his coach: chances created. There were three, the most of the team. Griezmann started just 12 days after his signing was announced, on the market ‘deadline’, four after his first training session. In memory, 2014, when, at the age of 24, he arrived at Atlético de la Real Sociedad. So, it also cost him. Today, even though he has passed the military service that cost him so much then, those of the ‘Profe’ and that of the Cholo, he reaches another Atleti. You will need to fit your cape to the molds. And try to fly again.