It was Germany who had been dominating the run of play but an awful hand ball mistake by the captain Scweinsteiger meant that France had the chance to go up by one in the semi final clash at the Euros.
And it was Griezmann who came to the party for the hosts, he was up against one of the best in the business, Neuer but he made no mistake. He sent Neuer the wrong way and put the ball into the top left-hand corner to make the scoreline 1-0 just before half time.
“He took his responsibilities well, to take the penalty and slam it in the back of the net,” said France striker Olivier Giroud, whom the young forward has placed in the shadows since his arrival to the big scene. Griezmann has played majority of his professional football in Spain, starting off with Real Sociedad.
“He’s lethal when he’s in the penalty box, and he got his second goal. He’s our little Mr Extra,” Giroud said.
While Griezmann was right on point in the attack, Giroud missed an opportunity mainly due to sheer pace which he lacked.
Griezmann on the other hand, had yet another feather to his hat, he was quick to tread behind and hep the defence many a times recovering the ball that the back end cleared.
Amongst deft touches, blind passes and fantastic goals it was Griezmann’s eye for his goal which stood out.
73 minutes on the clock was when Griezmann fired yet another goal. A magical cross from Paul Pogba put the keeper Neuer and German defence in shambles which led to an error from Neuer that Griezmann was waiting to chance upon.
Griezmann, with an impressive 32 goals for Atletico de Madrid last season, simply knew where he had to be when Neuer punched the ball to his feet, and he poked it in.
“For the second goal I was hanging back to wait for an error from the goalkeeper,” said Griezmann.
Giroud paid tribute to his teammate, saying he has “got stronger and stronger and silenced some critics.AHe has now taken over the leadership of our attack and has become indispensable for us.”
For Pogba, the goal he created for Griezmann completed a “beautiful” night in front of 65,000 fans.A”I just crossed it, ‘Grizou’ was there, it was beautiful, in the Velodrome. Honestly, football is just great,” said Pogba.
