Antoine Griezmann was, according to Atletico Madrid Coach Diego Simeone, the player the team needed on Sunday. Down a goal against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames and facing the prospect of ending 2014 on a sour note, the champions looked for inspiration and found it in the form of the exciting France international. Three goals later – with a Raul Garcia penalty too – and Atletico were able to reflect on an astonishing win.
Simeone has routinely called for more from Griezmann since his summer move from Real Sociedad. Griezmann was prolific in his final season at La Real, reaching 20 goals in all competitions and despite the feeling he hadn’t lived up to the form he displayed at Anoeta, the treble in Bilbao were his seventh, eighth and ninth goals of the campaign, and earned 65 EuroFantasyLeague points. Griezmann is pretty much halfway to his tally for last season and at roughly the halfway point of 2014-15, that’s a commendable achievement considering Cholo counts on him less than did Jagoba Arrasate.
Griezmann has been tasked with bringing another dimension to Atletico’s play, to ease the onus on set-piece goals and make grinding out results a little less of a chore. That Atletico are within touching distance of the top of the table at the winter break suggests it’s going well at Vicente Calderon and Griezmann is responsible for a large part of that, easily Atletico’s most successful summer signing. Mario Mandzukic has done well but it’s perhaps telling that the top addition is the player bringing something different, not the one replacing a departed favourite as Mandzukic has Diego Costa.
Take Real Madrid and Barcelona out of the equation and no La Liga team has scored more goals than Atletico and only Valencia have conceded fewer. Simeone may talk down Atletico’s title challenge and insist Los Che and Sevilla are his team’s rivals, labelling a Champions League place as their objective, but the fact remains Los Colchoneros are in the title race. It’s shaping up to be a three-way fight once more and the feeling persists that Simeone knows it too – he just doesn’t want to say publically.
Despite his game-winning hat-trick few would be shocked to see Griezmann benched if Atletico’s next game was immediate, rather than in the New Year. Simeone has form for that kind of treatment, naming Griezmann as a substitute for the trip to Malmo only days after his two goals were crucial in sealing the points in the thrilling home win over Cordoba. It may technically be rotation but Griezmann only played 77 minutes against Los Califas, not the full 90. Simeone preferred a more workmanlike XI against the Swedes and Griezmann was sacrificed.
Atletico’s New Year fixtures will reveal much about how Simeone sees Griezmann now. After the visit of Levante on January 3 comes a Copa del Rey double header with Real Madrid and a trip to Barcelona in between. Rotation may come into the equation again in such a packed schedule but if Griezmann is three of the biggest games Atletico can possibly face, it will be confirmation of his growing status under the watchful Simeone.