The medicinal discovery of the antibiotic Penicillin, the first wonder drug, changed the course of the world for good. But this great discovery itself was an accident. Sir Alexander Fleming casually experimented with his experimentation before skedaddling off to a two-week holiday. He returns, he observes that something significant has happened in his experimentation, and voila, Penicillin is born.
Now let’s skip the science lesson about how the life expectancy of humankind was increased multifold and return to a phenomenon of much greater importance – football.
Can someone, who’s already won a World Cup, played in a record 73 consecutive matches for their country, scored over 270 professional goals, and represented two of Europe’s biggest clubs for nearly a decade, one of which bought them for €120 million, be accidentally (re)discovered?
The answer is yes, if you’re Antoine Griezmann, France’s Le Petit Prince.
The Evolution of Griezmann of France
The No. 7 has been the heart-and-soul, the coal-and-ice, the very quintessence of Didier Deschamps’ French era, and the manager has made the most of the 31-year-old forward’s versatility over the years.
At first, Griezmann debuted on the left wing before being veered to the right after a few appearances. Then, during the Euro 2016, he thrived – literally, unabashedly thrived – in a two-man forward pairing as the little striker to Olivier Giroud’s big striker, scoring 6 goals in the tournament and winning the golden boot. In Les Bleus’ World Cup-winning campaign in 2018 as well, Deschamps put in a similar role, and Griezmann produced the goods, netting 4 times and taking home the silver boot.
Paul Pogba on his social media has called Antoine Griezmann
“GriezmannKante” as he’s been playing like Kante in his new role for France 🤣#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/jJTmNyGvRS
— Mimi Fawaz (@MimosaFawaz) December 14, 2022
When Karim Benzema caused a whirlwind with his performances in Europe and, after a 5-year-long hiatus from international football, was recalled to the French set-up for the Euro 2020, Griezmann was dropped behind the Real Madrid captain and Kylian Mbappé in a proper number 10 role.
The Big Bang before the World Cup
The admirers of Griezmann, including his manager, evidently understand that he is versatile, primarily because of sheer grit, supreme technical ability, and work rate.
But surely, before the World Cup, it would have been ludicrous…
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