❤️🇦🇷🇫🇷 Diego Simeone's heartfelt words about Antoine Griezmann in the post-match conference:
"I'm going to miss so many things about Antoine [Griezmann]… what made him different was that he took responsibility for the team, and that’s not easy. Very few footballers do that. We’ll work to find it again.
Teams need players like that, like Koke. They carry a weight that can’t be explained with words. It’s clear that the part Antoine leaves behind, hopefully we can replace it and have what’s needed to compete.
Friendship with Antoine? Relationships with players are difficult to explain. I’m not friends with Antoine, but I love him. I don’t have dinner with him every week. Antoine has always been a weakness of mine. I trust him and I believe I wasn’t wrong about him.
The most emotional part about all of this is that Griezmann is a man of few words, but very deep in what he transmits. I know the affection he has for me and our families.
What did I like most from tonight? We all live for material things, we want to win trophies, but we gave everything we had, our maximum. Today, seeing the people, being silent for 30 minutes, listening… Respect is the greatest thing in the world, and it’s been lost in this society, in this life. Today the people showed it with their affection and love.
Griezmann's apology? We’re not here to judge other extraordinary figures. Antoine has his own qualities. Respect, hard work, humility. Griezmann never crossed that coach-player line. He never had a gesture beyond normal frustration. I feel we had a genius, and I don’t know if there are many footballers with his technical ability. It won’t be easy to repeat."