DBasia.news – Antoine Griezmann’s role in Barcelona is a puzzle ahead of the El Clasico match against Real Madrid, Saturday (24/10). The French player will not necessarily appear in this grand match.
Griezmann’s difficult times with Barcelona did continue at the start of this season. Players who were brought off at a price of 120 million euros are still having trouble showing their quality.
Even though Barcelona has now changed coaches from Quique Setien to Ronald Koeman. However, the presence of the Dutch tactician did not have a major impact on Griezmann’s career development.
The 29-year-old has yet to score a goal at the start of this season. Even though his other colleagues on the front lines have done this.
Griezmann had mentioned his position as a right-forward as the reason for decreased goal productivity. However, Koeman ignored the complaint.
Performance that has not improved has even prevented Griezmann from being played in the opening match of the 2020-2021 Champions League against Ferencvaros, in the middle of this week. He could only see his team-mates feasting on the goal against the Hungarian representative.
Griezmann’s resignation for the match also raises new questions. Will he play in El Clasico?
In this regard, Koeman is reluctant to provide certainty. He only admitted that every player had the opportunity to play.
“Griezmann has a chance to play, but it’s not a good thing to talk about his role in every game, because there are other players, and most importantly the team,” Koeman told Sport.
“He is an important player and we want all the players to reach their best level. The team remains the most important and we have to design tactics to achieve the maximum possible results.”
Koeman does face a dilemma regarding Griezmann’s condition. He will certainly be under pressure if he continues to keep expensive attackers on the bench.
But playing Griezmann also risks making Barcelona’s attack pattern not develop. The end result becomes the gamble.
It is interesting to see which choice Koeman will make regarding Griezmann. It is likely that this could have long-term effects until the end of the season.