After being labelled as not world class by Franck Ribery, Antoine Griezmann has hit back at his countryman for the aforementioned comments by claiming that his father thinks that he is the best––and that’s what truly matters to him. The Atletico Madrid forward is enjoying a rich vein of form, something that has seen him being tipped for the Ballon d’Or award. The Frenchman scored 32 goals in all competitions last term and continued his fine form to the Euros, where he ended up winning the Golden Boot.
However, countryman Franck Ribery didn’t seem to be impressed with the accolades of the former Real Sociedad player as the Bayern Munich star believes that his compatriot isn’t world class yet.
And Griezmann wasn’t one to hold back either.
"I will continue working. As he says, we'll see at the end what kind of player I am, but I know I'm on the right track," Griezmann told Eurosport.
"Everyone has an opinion. To my father, for example, I'm the best player in the world. To the fans of Atletico, too."
Antoine Griezmann didn’t have to fight this fight alone as Atletico Madrid president, Enrique Cerezo, took a sly dig at the Bayern Munich number 7, asking people to forgive him for the comments because he “was” once a great player.
"Ribery is a little older. We must forgive him because he was a great player."
This ongoing war of words comes right after Atletico Madrid handed Bayern a 1-0 defeat. The Bavarians have found it difficult to stop the Rojiblancos of late, as they were knocked out of the Champions League last season by the Spanish club.
Even though Ribery believes that his club is of another level, recent results have shown otherwise. In the last three Champions League campaign, the Madrid-based club has played in two finals while Carlo Ancelotti’s men played in none to add to their unprecedented La Liga triumph in the 2013-14 season.
It speaks volumes about how far Atletico Madrid, and Antoine Griezmann, have come under Diego Simeone. Indeed, their win against the German champions in the last game was a further testament to Atleti’s superiority.
Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann has started his campaign in a brilliant fashion as he has already scored 6 goals in the 8 games that he has played thus far. Franck Ribery, on the other hand, has played 9 games, but could only score 2 goals so far.
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