Final afternoons with Griezmann at the Metropolitano | OneFootball

According to as.com, each of the four remaining afternoons at the Metropolitano will serve as a farewell, with Antoine Griezmann, 35, leaving at season’s end. His send-off is set for 17 May, the San Neptuno weekend cherished since the 2013 Copa and 2014 Liga, on the pitch and with honours.

Athletic arrive this afternoon, a club tightly woven into his story. Across 797 elite appearances he has faced them 36 times, fewer only than Barcelona, 41, and Real Madrid, 48, and he has scored 14 against Athletic, a joint-high with Valencia.

In December 2014, his first season back in red and white, he hit a hat-trick against Athletic, a statement that his adaptation under Diego Simeone was complete. Signed as a left winger, he was swiftly moved into a second striker and No 10 role, handed licence to roam.

Athletic were also his first checkpoint. Trialling with Real Sociedad in 2005, he came on in the final of a small tournament against them and headed the winner from a corner, as he later recounted in Detrás de una sonrisa.

Rested as a substitute in midweek against Elche, between the pain of the Copa final and the excitement of a Champions League semi-final first leg with Arsenal, the plan is for him to play more today.

Atlético’s recent run is grim, one win in their past eight matches. That victory was the vital one, a 0-2 first-leg success at Barcelona in the quarter-finals to keep their European campaign alive.

Source: as.com