Antoine Griezmann (33) has lifted the lid on a disappointing Euros in a revealing interview with Telefoot.
France under Didier Deschamps entered the competition as one of the favourites. However, the team would fail to ever meet expectations. The Blues would score their first and only goal from open play at the tournament in the semi-finals where they were eliminated by eventual champions Spain.
There was a sense throughout the tournament that Deschamps had not found his perfect team. The manager chopped and changed between games as he tried to get his France team up and running. However, that would never occur, and some who had been untouchable ahead of the competition suddenly found themselves with a new role.
Griezmann had been an obvious starter before the Euros but by the time the nation was eliminated, he was reduced to being a late-game substitution. It was obvious that he was frustrated with this situation, and as he explained to Telefoot, he believed the frequent changes were partly to blame for France’s disappointing showing.
“There were a lot of changes to position, tactical changes, that we had to deal with. If I had managed to score those two goals against the Netherlands (0-0, in the group stages), I would have played another Euros,” Griezmann states.
The forward who more frequently plays as a midfielder for his national team admits that he struggled to transition to his new role, “I didn’t have my best competition. I tried to adapt. There was a lot of frustration, a lot of anger because I never felt at the heart of the game as I like. There was this desire to do well, I think we had the team and the group to go all the way.”
GFFN | Nick Hartland
