French international Bacary Sagna is of the opinion that his young team mateAAntoine Griezmann is in the league of the Portugal forward Ronaldo and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

“Ronaldo, we know him. He’s one of the best players in the world — if not the best — and he has worked very hard to get there,” Sagna told a news conference on Saturday.
“Antoine, to me, is right up there too, in the same league as Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.”

Griezmann has a bitter history with France, he was rejected at most academies in his native country with the reason that he was not big or mature enough to be one of the world’s most lethal strikers, this is turn led to him moving to Spain during his teen years.

“It’s a kind of revenge for him after the French academies wouldn’t take him,” Sagna said. “He made it the hard way and he deserves to be where he is.”

Griezmann powered Atletico Madrid into the Champions League finals last season and has already scored 6 important goals for France in the European Championships. This is the best figure second only toAMichel Platini’s record nine goals in 1984.

Commenting on the Euro finals against, Sagna’s man concern will be the winger Ronaldo, who is hungry and on the lookout for the first major international title with Portugal.
“He’s an exceptional player and it won’t be easy,” Sagna said. “What you have to do is keep a close eye on him all the time, stay close to him and make sure you don’t allow him too much space.”

Sagna usually a player of the shadows, who lets other players bask in the limelight while he goes about his task quietly, has earned praises for his performance this tournament.

Softly spoken off the pitch, he has shown his determination on it, notably when he was seen shouting at sometimes shaky centre back Adil Rami.

Speaking about facing off against Ronaldo, the right back from Manchester City said:
“I’m used to playing against excellent players every weekend so no, I’m not afraid,” he said.

Share.

Leave A Reply