Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann has admitted he finds it ‘weird’ that he and his compatriots have been omitted from Fifa’s The Best Men’s Player of the Year award shortlist.
Griezmann has enjoyed an immensely successful year, winning the Europa League and Uefa Super Cup with Atleti either side of a monumental World Cup win with France.
The 27-year-old came third in this particular award back in 2016, but he is perplexed that neither he nor any of his World Cup-winning teammates were shortlisted.
Instead, the top three consists of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric, who both won the Champions League with Real Madrid, with the latter also leading Croatia to a World Cup final, and Mohamed Salah who scored 44 goals in 52 games across all competitions for Liverpool.
Griezmann told L’Equipe (via Goal): “It’s weird and a pity.
“This is a trophy that’s awarded by FIFA, right? We won a World Cup and there’s no Frenchman on the shortlist. That’s the choice, but it’s surprising.”
Not to be confused with the Fifa award – although the two were merged for a short period – Griezmann also added that he should be shortlisted for this year’s Ballon d’Or award.
Looking back on his previous season, in which he scored 29 goals for Atleti and excelled at international level, Griezmann feels his performances have excelled from those which brought him a third-placed Ballon d’Or finish in 2016.
He added: “I deserve to be in the top three.
“That year [2016], I lost two finals, this year I’ve won three, so normally…”
Following their European Super Cup win over city rivals Real Madrid, Atletico have got their new La Liga season off to a shaky start.
A 1-1 draw away to Valencia was followed by a slender 1-0 home victory over Rayo Vallecano, in which Griezmann scored the winner.
And in their final game before the international break, Atletico went down 2-0 away to Celta Vigo, leaving them five points behind Real Madrid and Barcelona already.
Los Rojiblancos’ next game is at home to Eibar on Saturday, September 15.
The post Antoine Griezmann: I deserve to be on Fifa’s “weird” Best Men’s Player shortlist appeared first on Squawka News.
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