Antoine Griezmann’s return to Atlético Madrid hasn’t exactly turned out to be very successful. The attacker returned to his old love on the last day of the transfer window, but is emphatically struggling with his form. Spanish media are wondering what is going on with Griezmann as the Frenchman has failed to score or provide an assist after eight appearances in all competitions (three for Barca, five for Atlético).
Atlético ran into an expensive loss of points for the third time this season on Saturday, when Diego Simeone’s team went down 1-0 on a visit to Deportivo Alavés. Griezmann played the full ninety minutes, but was unable to distinguish himself. “He doesn’t show himself as the player we remember him. “Griezmann has trouble adapting to the dynamics,” concludes marca. “The thing with Griezmann is worrying, you don’t see that anywhere,” added former Atlético midfielder Milinko Pantic in his preview.
Diario Sports goes a step further and sees in Griezmann ‘the spirit of Atlético’. “The figures show that Griezmann has had zero value for Atlético so far,” the newspaper writes. “In other words, the little prince has been disappointing since his return to capital. And what’s worse, the figures of the whole team have deteriorated since his arrival. The prodigal son is no longer decisive and the circumstance could put him in the subsequent duels can even lead to the reserve bench.”
The words of the Spanish media are supported by a special statistic. Griezmann did not manage to get a shot between the posts in his five games on behalf of Atlético. He has not yet provided any assists to his teammates. Griezmann has played for the Madrilenians for 304 minutes so far and even saw his poeg fail to score while standing inside the lines.