Antoine Griezmann misses out on the three finalists for the FIFA Best Men’s Player award but the Atletico Madrid star player believes with what he achieved in 2018 he should be among the final three for the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah are the last men standing for the 2018 FIFA Best Men’s Player award.
The Atletico Madrid attacker enjoyed the highlight of his career in the summer as he played a major role in France winning the World Cup, coming third behind Luca Modric and Eden Hazard in the Golden Ball voting at Russia 2018 .
And now he believes he deserves such honour for his efforts over a year in which he has so far scored 23 times for Atletico Madrid in 33 outings, helping them to the Europa League and European Super Cup in the process.
“I deserve to be in the top three. In 2016, when I finished third behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, I played in the final of European Championship with France and Champions League final with Atletico Madrid. This year I won three, ” Griezmann told L’ Equipe.
Griezmann expresses his surprise that neither he nor any of his France team-mates made a shortlist for FIFA’s The Best prize .
“It’s weird and a pity,” he said. “This is a trophy that’s awarded by FIFA, right? We won a World Cup and there’s no Frenchman on the shortlist. That’s the choice, but it’s surprising.”
The 27-year-old has been with Atletico Madrid since 2014 and has scored 80 goals in 145 appearances for Diego Simeone’s side, rejecting overtures from Barcelona in the summer to remain with the capital club.
He has now featured 61 times for France, finding the net on 24 occasions. He scored four goals during scored during the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia, including a penalty goal in the final itself against Croatia, a fixture that France won 4-2.