Atletico Madrid and France attacker Antoine Griezmann has admitted that his failure to make the shortlist for FIFA’s The Best award upsets him.
The World Cup winner has previously gone on the record to say that he feels he deserves to finish in the top three of the Ballon d’Or this year but has missed out on the FIFA prize, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah the players nominated.
France’s World Cup victory should have meant that a member of Les Bleus made the cut, according to the 27-year-old, but instead the trio is made up of two Champions League winners and Liverpool ace Salah, who was injured in the final of that competition against Real Madrid.
“The Best bothers me,” he admitted at a commercial event on Tuesday. “It’s a FIFA award and there’s no Frenchmen. It’s weird.”
Griezmann was also puzzled by the omission of Jan Oblak from the goalkeeper nominations, with Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel, Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois and Hugo Lloris of France and Tottenham getting the nod in that category.
“He’s the best in the world for me, but not because he’s my team-mate. He’s brilliant,” Griezmann said.
Meanwhile, his individual disappointment was backed up by Lucas Hernandez, his team-mate with both club and country.
“It’s an injustice,” the left-back said of his colleague’s absence from The Best shortlist. “Griezmann has been the best this season. He’s not got a nomination, but I hope he wins the Ballon d’Or, he deserves it.”
Atletico Madrid have taken only four points from their first three La Liga fixtures of the season, leaving them trailing title rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, both of whom have perfect records to date.
Diego Simeone’s men face an early kick off on Sunday against Eibar then travel to face Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday.
It is a month of big dates for the capital club, with their derby against Real Madrid to come on September 29 – a real showcase for Griezmann to show his detractors that they were wrong.