The Atletico Madrid forward was an absolute star in Euro 2016 and was tipped by more than one person to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or; but after the final, Antoine Griezmann has come up with a statement he seems quite confident in. He is absolutely sure that Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the standout choice for the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
Following the final of Euro 2016 between Portugal and France, it was evident that the hosts failed to capitalise on a lot of obvious chances and were completely defenceless against Portugal who were determined to play as a cohesive team. Despite an injury to their talismanic player, someone the country depended on, the team seemed to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to win. The win means that Cristiano Ronaldo has finally won silverware with his national team; a feat that the other greatest player of this generation has not achieved as much.
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The injury, when viewed at the best angle, seems horrific, to say the least, but it was heartening to see the passion with which the man carried on playing. He limped about until he finally realised that it was causing his team more harm than good before retreating to watch the remainder of the game from the sidelines.
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What perhaps motivated the players more than anything was the rigorous participation by Ronaldo in the game even after he was forced to stop playing. He kept encouraging his team from, shouting out tactical errors and seemed to have temporarily taken over Fernando Santos' job. So strong was his passion that more than once, he inadvertently even physically pushed his boss around in frustration.
This is not the first instance of Ronaldo inspiring his team in this competition. Earlier, he led by example and motivated Joao Moutinho to take a crucial penalty kick that helped their team defeat Poland after the penalty shootout. He has undoubtedly been a mentor to a side that no one had imagined would win the Euros.
Antoine Griezmann seems to have kept this in mind. According to him, the speculation about who would win the prestigious Golden Ball must be silenced after the conclusion of the 2016 edition of the Euros. Ronaldo, in this football season, has already won two major tournaments; one with his country and one with his club.
PSG correspondent, Loic Tanzi, reported on Twitter what Griezmann actually said. In a tweet that translates to, “It's now finished for the Ballon D'Or. Ronaldo won both of the biggest competitions of this season.”
Arsene Wenger had widely backed Griezmann to overtake both Messi and Ronaldo in the race to win the Golden Ball after the Frenchman scored 6 goals to help his country reach the finals of the 2016 Euros.
