Can Griezmann win Champions League to leave Atlético for MLS on highest of highs?
As Atlético Madrid headed down the Metropolitano tunnel, having knocked out Barcelona to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, one player stood out from the rest.
The team had already applauded the public, starting with the stadium match Fondo Sur before going around the pitch, but Antoine Griezmann wanted more. Hesitating on the sideline, he spontaneously ran alone, bouncing on the turf, clapping his hands above his head.
For a minute, Griezmann was the only man on the pitch, leading the celebrations for the tens of thousands of fans left behind. Griezmann, so often the conductor on the field of Atlético, does it again. He danced, punching the air, as his team headed to a place they hadn’t been since 2017: the European final four.
“Do you know how beautiful it is to be in the semi-final of the Champions League?” » then asked Diego Simeone, the beaming Atlético coach. “Phwoar“Griezmann’s dance said the same thing in a simple action.
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However, Griezmann will leave Atlético and La Liga for MLS this summer to join Orlando City, a club who initially wanted him to join before the MLS transfer window closed but ultimately agreed to a summer arrival. He knows that he has little time left in Madrid and that every moment is precious. At 35, he won’t see many nights like this anymore, with 69,000 fans in the palm of his hand.
Griezmann is the heart and soul of this Atlético team, a club legend – the all-time top scorer and the fourth holder of the most appearances. He is also, along with Julián Álvarez, the best and most important player on the team at the moment, even at the very end.
“Training with him every day, there are moments where you think ‘maybe you could stay a little longer’,” Ademola Lookman, who joined Atlético in January, told ESPN. “I wouldn’t say he surprised me, because he’s a legend of football, for what he brought to the game, for what he represents. Seeing that up close every day is something you enjoy and learn from. It’s an absolute pleasure.”
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Since Griezmann’s departure was first announced in February, his season has turned into a farewell tour. Last month, he and Atlético faced huge matches one after another, as the schedule was filled with meaningful matches and a high degree of difficulty.
On March 22, Atlético faced Real Madrid in the derby. Then they played Barcelona – the team Griezmann controversially left them for, before returning – three times, in La Liga and the Champions League. In the Copa del Rey final on April 18, Griezmann faced his first club, Real Sociedad. And then it’s Arsenal, a team Griezmann helped defeat by winning his only major trophy with Atlético: the UEFA Europa League in 2018.
Atlético’s performance in this punishing series was a distillation of what the team represents, for better and for worse. “It’s Atleti,” Simeone said after nervously beating Barcelona 4-3 in the Copa semi-final, winning the first leg 4-0, before almost missing the return.
Atleti is about suffering and doing things the hard way. Their victories – such as eliminating Barça in the Champions League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate, despite losing 2-1 in the second leg – are often agonizing. Their defeats, such as being beaten on penalties by The Real in the Copa final this month to deny Griezmann his first major domestic trophy with Atlético, are even more atrocious.
Griezmann’s career has also been defined by extremes. He won a FIFA World Cup with France (2018) and lost another final (2022). He made himself a hero at Atlético, infuriated the fans by joining Barça, then returned home to make amends. He won the Europa League, the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup with Atlético, but never the Copa del Rey or La Liga. And now he is two games away from another Champions League final.
The last time he played in club football’s biggest game, in 2016, he missed a penalty in normal time before converting another in a losing shootout against Real Madrid. What could have been Atlético’s best night became its most painful. It’s Atleti. It’s Griezmann.
Griezmann already among the greats
“Antoine is a club legend,” says Mario Suárez, an Atlético academy graduate and first-team regular between 2010 and 2015, a former teammate of Griezmann and now an ESPN analyst. “In my opinion, [club captain] Koke is the club’s greatest legend, as a young player who came through the ranks, a ‘one club man’ and the player who played the most matches. [for Atlético].
“But Griezmann is the club’s all-time top scorer, and he’s the foreign-born player who has played the most La Liga games. And he’s so, so good. He’s a super intelligent player. I was able to enjoy playing with him, and now I appreciate him as a fan. I hope he has a good farewell. You have to say goodbye to legends as they deserve, and he’s one of them.”
These figures place Griezmann among the most important figures in La Liga history. Only three players – goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, winger Joaquín Sánchez and midfielder Raúl García – have made more appearances than his 557 in the competition. Only 10 players – a Who’s Who list of icons like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Telmo Zarra, Karim Benzema and Hugo Sánchez – have scored more La Liga goals than his 204.
Griezmann was already an exceptional prospect at Real Sociedad – the Basque team who gave him his chance as a youth in 2005 when French clubs doubted him – before signing for Atlético. He joined Simeone’s side in 2014, at their peak, reigning Spanish champions and Champions League runners-up, and became a talisman.
In 2016, Griezmann placed third in the men’s Ballon d’Or – behind Ronaldo and Messi – after reaching the Champions League final with Atlético and the UEFA European Championship final with France. Two years later, he was voted third again, this time after winning the Europa League and the 2018 World Cup.
Joining Barcelona in 2019 was an ambitious misstep. A year earlier, he rejected the opportunity, in a move made public in his self-produced, LeBron James-inspired film, “The Decision.” When he finally arrived at the Camp Nou, Griezmann had no natural choice in a team built around Messi. Despite this, his impact – with 13 La Liga goals and assists in 2019-20 and 20 in 2020-21 – was greater than many remember.
Back at Atlético since 2021, he had to work to win back the public, with humility and effort. He succeeded, became a club record holder and one of the team captains. Only one major trophy has eluded him, most recently in the Copa del Rey final this month. Atlético last won the championship five years ago, but Luis Suárez was the focal point of that team, with Griezmann still at Barça.
But beyond the trophies, statistics and records, there have been countless moments of seemingly effortless and unimaginable talent and invention.
Watch Griezmann’s goal at Real Valladolid on November 30, 2024, when he shared a brace with Álvarez before spinning 360 degrees, with the grace of a dancer, to touch the ball past the goalkeeper. And then watch it again and again, on repeat. It’s hypnotizing.
The Valladolid public, with his team in the middle of a relegation battle, gave him a standing ovation.
American dream
A move to MLS has always been Griezmann’s long-term plan. He is a sports enthusiast in the United States, even hosting an NFL show on YouTube.
“I always said my goal was to finish [in MLS]”, Griezmann told ESPN in 2023. “That’s my goal, to be there and finish my career there, to be able to play the sport there. I’m a big fan.”
The question was when. In the first half of this season, he seemed to have been sidelined: Simeone used him as a substitute twice as often as as a starter, with Álex Baena and Thiago Almada designated to replace him.
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A move to Orlando, even before the end of the season, emerged as a serious prospect. “He’s in a place where he deserves to choose what he wants to do,” Simeone admitted in February.
Only problem: Atlético was still in contention for the title, in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, and Griezmann was gaining influence. He started both Copa semi-final matches against Barcelona, both Champions League round of 16 matches against Tottenham Hotspur and the LaLiga derby with Real Madrid.
On March 24, his transfer to Orlando was confirmed, but he will wait until the end of the season. He had unfinished business with Atlético.
‘Thank you for everything you have given us’
None of Atlético, Simeone or Griezmann have ever won the Champions League. The club has reached three European Cup finals, in 1974, 2014 and 2016; Simeone coached two; and Griezmann played one. It’s their white whale.
But as the team prepared to face Barcelona in the quarter-finals this month, Simeone had time for an unexpected moment of sentimentality, interrupting Atlético’s press secretary as he began the pre-match press conference.
“Before [journalists] ask questions, I wanted to thank you,” Simeone said to Griezmann, who was sitting next to him. “Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for your humility. You are an admirable person for young people, in a society that needs people like you.
“Thank you for everything you have given us, everything you are giving us and everything I will force you to continue to give us. Thank you for your commitment, for the way you have always behaved as a professional. I consider you as a player, then as a friend.
“God willing, we will play five more Champions League matches. Keep enjoying it. I love you. If an Atleti fan was sitting here today, they would say the same thing. I identify with them. I am your coach, and you know that if you stop running tomorrow, you are out of the team.
“That’s all. Sorry. I just needed to say that.”
Simeone had decided that day that he would say something, a source close to the coach told ESPN. But neither the club, nor Griezmann, had the slightest idea of what was to come. The speech was not written; Simeone spoke from the heart.
On Wednesday, back at the Metropolitano, the two men will set out again to pursue their dream of the Champions League one last time.
