Richard Buxton: Griezmann makes Ballon d’Or case
Atletico attacker could end the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly on the prize
Vying for greatness among the elite has always been Antoine Griezmann's personal destiny.
A pedestal previously shared by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi was a lofty standard to which the France international would initially aspire to but someday ultimately join.
In his own eyes, Griezmann is already dining at the same table as the pair.
His second-half brace in the world champions' 2-1 win over Germany yesterday morning (Singapore time) suggests that moment in the spotlight may finally be upon him.
This year will go down as the moment that football's underlings finally wrestle back control after a seesaw battle for the Ballon d'Or, which Messi and Ronaldo dominated for the past decade.
Time was always going to catch up to the game's leading tricenarians, and Griezmann had long represented the heir apparent in undertaking that changing of the guard.
Every step of the way, however, he has had Kylian Mbappe snapping at his heels.
In the wake of Les Bleus' triumph at the World Cup this summer, Griezmann's compatriot became only the fourth footballer to adorn the cover of Time magazine as a "leader" of the next generation and is among his closest challengers for the final three-man shortlist.
Just shy of 20, Mbappe's best is still to come. It is why Luka Modric, another favourite, touted the free-scoring Paris Saint-Germain attacker's international teammate ahead of him.
If Les Parisiens continue to steamroll through a pedestrian domestic league while meandering in the Champions League, there is a danger of Mbappe falling prey to having too much too young, as evidenced by the teenager's club teammate Neymar's travails.
The Brazilian's cautionary tale may have also swayed Griezmann at a time when he seemed to lose his way.
LEBRON JAMES-STYLE VIDEO
An obsession with basketball led the Atletico Madrid forward to misguidedly produce a LeBron James-style video in a bid to draw a line under two years of uncertainty.
"The Decision" was supposed to end a long-running "Will he? Won't he?" saga with Barcelona.
“ I would put Antoine Griezmann in pole position in terms of the three Frenchmen.”Luka Modric says he would put Griezmann ahead Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane in the Ballon d’Or running
Instead, it posed yet another probing question: Why did he?
Playing out that personal dilemma over his long-term future became a self-inflicted wound. Atleti fans had already roundly booed him during their final-day clash with the newly-crowned La Liga champions last season amid reports of a potential defection to the Nou Camp.
Confirming his stay with Madrid's second club was supposed to bring those sensing betrayal back onside.
In reality, it became as much an erroneous public relations exercise as it was the right call.
That flirtation with the Catalans, even coercing Gerard Pique into the act, has placed him under suspicion by the Wanda Metropolitano faithful at a time when he should be revered.
Atleti are no strangers to abandoning talismans; Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa are just three who have forsaken the "Colchonero" cause over the previous decade.
Griezmann's current statistics mirror those of Aguero in his final four seasons in the Spanish capital. But the Argentinian's inability to unseat the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly of the Ballon d'Or rendered him a perennial bridesmaid despite regularly excelling for Manchester City.
Breaking that stranglehold would confirm the 27-year-old's arrival at an elite level.
It would also go some way at Atleti, as their first player in 62 years to earn the accolade, in healing a fractured bond largely of Griezmann's own making.
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