by They called it Big Boots, too big for anyone else to fill. “Atlético Madrid are my life,” Luis Aragonés once said, and it was theirs too: the man who said Fernando Torres, their favorite son, “everything is Atlético”, and whose statue outside the Metropolitano. The coach who led them to their first division title in 1977 and, when they needed it most, to their second division title 25 years later, he managed them four times over four decades, starting with an Intercontinental Cup victory, aged 36. he was also a breakthrough midfielder who won three leagues, two cups and looked like he had won the European Cup when his extra free-kick beat Sepp Maier in the 1974 final. That was almost the last of his 173 goals for the club, more than anyone else, ever.
Until now. Just before 11pm on Tuesday, 49 years later, Atlético conceded a penalty against Getafe. Álvaro Morata picked the ball up, but there was no doubt who was going to take it. Antoine Griezmann knew this was coming and so did everyone else, if not directly. In this way, he had time to think about the moment he was waiting for, maybe even scared, but he knew where he was going – he studied the movements of David Soria with Pablo Vercellone , the goalkeeping coach – and he also had support. . “Luis Aragonés went to bring him,” said Diego Simeone.
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Hit high and hard, Soria got a hand on him, but it wasn’t enough. Atlético led 3-1, and Griezmann also had Atlético’s 173rd. The man who scored the first goal at the Metropolitano had joined the man who scored the first at the Calderon, their new home rising to celebrate both. He raised his hands to the heavens, to Aragonés, then he ran towards Simeone, waiting for him on the touchline, arms wide. The group hug grew and everyone chanted the name Aragonés. “Today Antoine reached Luis’ numbers, incredible numbers,” said Simeone. “He deserves it: he is an extraordinary footballer and a great person for a team like Atlético.” It took him 364 games, six less than Aragonés.
It might not have been the funnest celebration he’s ever had – there were Fortnite dances, red and blue glitter borrowed from LeBron James, and nothing will ever beat him running across the Anoeta running track and piling into a car with his Real Sociedad teammates, biting. the horn and the windows being rolled down because they had won Family Fortunes – but it might have been the one he felt the most. “It’s very special,” he said.
He also said it was “unfortunate”. Two late goals from the great Getafe denied Atlético a 21st consecutive home win, a wild game ending 3-3. But if that record escaped them, if AS called this “historic … and bitter” and Marca claimed that Getafe “poured cold water on Antoine’s party,” it somehow lies, a little. athletic about. This is the club that lost the 1974 final when a last-minute long shot forced a replay, prompting the president to describe them as El Pupas, an accident waiting to happen; that suffered to a moment in Lisbon when they finally returned 40 years later, and the other in Milan two years later; who built an identity around loyalty in victory and where the centenary song praises “what a way to lose!” and the song they played on their 100th birthday was The Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Moreover, this record will not be removed, perhaps forever. When Griezmann was trying to decide what to do with his future back in 2018, his wife Erika told him: if you go to Barcelona you will be just another player, at Atlético you will have history. She wasn’t wrong, even if he had to find that out for himself. His legacy may have been jeopardized; he could have been completely destroyed, but there was redemption in Tuesday’s collective celebration, something even deeper for having gone the way he did and back the way he did too, his determination to make it up to them, to win them back. There was also something simpler, something almost childlike: he must be happy, at home. And Atlético is his place, Simeone more than his manager.
Legend has it that Griezmann was a disaster at Barcelona, but that’s not true, and there was a reason they spent €120m on him. What yes It is true that he was always a little awkward, and although he tried to ingratiate himself he did not succeed be himself. Sometimes, some people thought there, it was like he didn’t dare. He also joined perhaps the only club in the world where there was someone who did something better than he did. Not long ago Rodrigo de Paul described Griezmann as Atlético’s Lionel Messi but Barcelona had their own Messi. “I told him: fly, I hope it goes well,” Simeone later revealed, but they kept in touch and when they didn’t, there was only one place to go: home.
There was plenty against him. When Griezmann joined Barcelona, his plaque outside the stadium was trashed, a few toy rats left it. They knew he could be brilliant: he took them to the Champions League final and won the Europa League. But it is strange that Atlético had won two league titles: the year before his first arrival, and again after he left. More importantly, he had walked out the way he walked out, that documentary and the one year delay deepening the damage. He could not expect to walk back in as nothing happened.
He didn’t. Instead, he was very aware of what he had done. And if many were not sure, if there was a rejection, a whistle too, Simeone was completely – not only that year but the year as well, despite his difficulties. On loan, Griezmann scored just three league goals, eight in total, in the first season and that could have been it; Atlético certainly didn’t want to spend the €40m transfer fee they had to exercise if he played more than half the games over two seasons. At club level, there was only a tendency to send him back. However, the coach had different ideas and fought for them.
That’s when they came up with the idea of limiting him to less than 45 minutes each game to avoid the clause. By the 60th minute, week after week, Griezmann accepted without a word of complaint and set about making the most of the few minutes he had. Barcelona were forced into a corner, negotiating a €20m sale for a player who cost six times that, and Griezmann felt free but there was still work to be done. “I know people want to hear from me: I’m sorry for how I hurt them,” he said. He later said: “I went through that situation because I caused it. I was hurting the club and the best I could do was keep my mouth shut, work hard and do everything to help the manager.”
“When everyone did not agree that he would return, I was convinced that he was born to play for Atlético,” said Simeone. “He grew, he disappeared, he came back to a place where people were uncomfortable because of his departure and he turned it around.”
All he assumed that he will be the best player of La Liga in 2023, by a thousand. Above all, the way he did it. He finished last season with 15 goals and 16 assists in the league alone, and already has 15 goals in all competitions this season. It’s not even about the goals: it’s everything. It doesn’t really feel right to call it a front at all. His 173 Atlético goals come with 77 assists. Satisfied now, it is the dominance of the game and the responsibility and reliability that goes with it, the vision, the contact, and the intelligence, the efficiency in everything he does: nothing flash, every pass is perfectly weighted, yes all decisions weighted perfectly too. .
Then there is the work, the values that former Atlético frontman Kiko Narváez said Aragonés would have embraced. When Griezmann scored on Tuesday, the first thing Kiko mentioned was the “kilometers”. He is a great footballer who plays, runs, like a rubbish head. But it also runs like a great one: it’s everywhere, except in the wrong place. “When you tell a player to ‘play free’, they don’t interpret it correctly,” says Simeone. “Griezmann is the first football where you say ‘play free’ and he does everything well. It is unusual and has something special. He likes to understand where the team needs his effort. It will be history for Atlético, for sure.”
When Griezmann came home, there were four scorers in front of him, all history makers. There is none now, but Big Boots joins him to the penalty spot. “Nothing I will say his legend,” said Griezmann. “Atlético has everything thanks to him. I feel an emotion, pride and happiness that I cannot explain. It is magical and incredible for me to be on par with him in goals, but there is still a lot to do and I will not be at his level because he is Luis Aragonés.”
