#4 Antoine Griezmann, France’s household hero
The name of Antoine Griezmann will be reverberating across every household in France at the moment. His form has been such. He has shown everyone that the productive season he has had at Atletico Madrid was no fluke. His brace against the world champions – backed up by his double against the Icelanders – has rubberstamped his credentials as a big-game player.
He showed immense composure to dispatch the spot-kick conceded by Schweinsteiger to give France the lead, before poaching on a weak punch from Manuel Neuer to poke home and confirm his nation’s place in the Grand Finale on Sunday. That strike took his tally up to 6 for the tournament, at least 3 more than his closest contender.
The striker is in the form of his life and seems well poised to bag the Golden Boot (highest goal-scorer in the tournament) and the Golden ball as well (best player of the tournament). His ability to punish teams on the break with his pace and tendency to get in behind defences on regular occasions have been primary factors in his transformation to one of Europe’s most lethal strikers.
Can he inspire his side to victory in Sunday’s summit clash?
