Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann had the best time of his football career last season as he represented the Spanish giants against Real Madrid for the Champions League finals in May, and featured for France against Portugal in July’s Euro 2016 finals.
Image: Antoine Griezmann
However, the Frenchman has been on the losing side in both finals but he’s optimistic that the future holds more glories.
Griezmann was nominated alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale for the 2016 European Best Player Award–a prize that went to the Portugal captain.
The 25-year-old Atleti star spoke to UEFA’s official website prior to the official announcement on Thursday August 25.
He said: “It means I’m on the right track to be among the best. I have to keep going that way, keep working hard and giving joy to people when I play.
“Without being big-headed, I think I deserve the nomination because I had a great season with my club and the national team.
“All of the games we won, but especially the Champions League quarter-final and semi-final [against Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively].
“And then the whole of Euro 2016, because it took place in France – it was wonderful, and unfortunately for us we will never experience that again. We were really blown away, and I hope it was the same for the fans as well.
“[I think 2015-16 was my best season so far] but I hope there’s more to come – a lot of goals, assists and why not trophies as well?
“[Winning] would mean I’m getting closer to achieving my objective of being among the best players, and to do that I need to keep on working hard and enjoying things on and off the pitch.”
You’re right. The French player is really young and has the talents he needs to make it on the big stage. If he could already be selected for European Best Player Award at his age, he will make it big. He only needs to continue working hard. His teammate Paul Pogba did the same and it worked.