Antoine Griezmann‘s former technical advisor Eric Olhats has backtracked on inflammatory comments he made about Griezmann’s relationship with Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi.
“I want to make it very clear that Antoine Griezmann never informed me about this issue,” Olhats wrote in Marca. “The comments I made in France Football came from a situation argued by many in the media during the past season.
“I understand that my comments are subjective and that I could even be wrong. I also want to make it clear that I do not agree with the comments made by his uncle about these alleged disagreements between Griezmann and Messi.
“For a long time, specifically three years, I haven’t maintained a relationship with Antoine nor am I part, as the press says, of the close circle of his family.”
Olhats had told France Football that “[Messi] is both emperor and monarch, and didn’t genuinely welcome Antoine upon his arrival. His attitude has always been deplorable and made him feel bad.
“I’ve always heard Griezmann say that he has no problem with Messi, but never the other way around. His is a regime of terror – either you’re with him or you’re against him.”
Griezmann has joined a Barcelona team going through a period of transition, winning no trophies in his first season and scoring 15 goals from 48 games, contributing four assists. The previous season, at Atletico Madrid, he registered 21 goals and ten assists from the same number of games.
Messi, despite evidently slowing down as he begins to enter his mid-30s, registered 31 goals and 27 assists last season, from 44 appearances. The season before he scored 51 goals and contributed 20 assists from 50 games.
Barcelona are currently eighth in La Liga, nine points behind league leaders Real Sociedad and five clear of bottom-placed Huesca. Next up for the Azulgrana following the international break is a key trip to Atleti’s Wanda Metropolitano to face Cholo Simeone’s lean and mean Rojiblanco outfit.
Featured image courtesy of Diario AS.
