Antoine Griezmann says he won't go back on international retirement decision

Today at 06:01 AM

In September, Antoine Griezmann (33) made a shock announcement, revealing his retirement from international football. As vice-captain and as a regular starter, Griezmann still occupied an important role when he made the decision to stop with Les Bleus. 

The Atletico Madrid forward, who earned 137 caps for the France national team, scoring 44 goals, featured prominently at Euro 2024 and was then involved in the September international break. It was just before Didier Deschamps’ announcement for his squad in October that Griezmann’s announcement came through. Les Bleus’ manager, unaware of the impending decision, was somewhat taken aback.

‘It wasn’t a sudden impulse’ – Griezmann

Romain Molina had hypothesised that Griezmann had a Zinédine Zidane-inspired plan to make a big comeback. Should things "go poorly" without the former Barcelona forward, it would allow Griezmann to return to the fold as some sort of saviour figure, putting him back in the heart of the project – or so went the theory. 

However, speaking after Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain on Wendesday, he told Canal Plus that there was no going back on his decision. “It’s completely over. I won’t come back. It wasn’t a sudden impulse,” he said. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle