Hard blow for Antoine Griezmann! Beyond two friendly matches, the world champion’s ankle injury will above all put an end to his longevity record within the France team.
“After 84 matches in a row with the French team, the longevity record ofAntoine Griezmann stops there… Injured in the ankle, Grizi is replaced by Mattéo Guendouzi.” On the French team’s X account, the message appeared this Monday March 18 around 7:30 p.m., confirming the information from RMC Sport broadcast a little earlier in the evening and according to which the world champion withdrew from the friendly matches against Germany and Chile.
Respectively scheduled for March 23 and 26, these two matches would have been the 85th and 86th consecutive meetings, in all competitions, contested by Antoine Griezmann as number 7 of the Blues. Thus, for the first time in almost… seven years, the French will attend, at the end of the month, a match of the French team without the Atlético de Madrid player. His last absence dates back to June 13, 2017. That day, it was on the sidelines that Antoine Griezmann spent the friendly match between the Blues and England. Final score: 3-2 for the French.
Number of matches in a row played with the French team:
84 – Antoine Griezmann
83
82
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
61
60
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44 – Patrick Vieira— French team (@equipedefrance) March 18, 2024
The French team has already announced that Lazio Rome midfielder Mattéo Guendouzi, 24, will replace Grizou in the next two matches. A task which promises to be complicated, as Didier Deschamps himself had underlined earlier in the day, believing that “with the qualities of Antoine [Griezmann] in his register, we are not going to find a player who has these characteristics”. And the boss of the Blues anticipates: “When we know the influence of Antoine, a replacement position for position is impossible or very, very, very difficult. We will arrange it a little differently.”