Olivier Giroud reveals captaincy snub ‘affected’ Antoine Griezmann | OneFootball

Antoine Griezmann’s (33) retirement from international football came as a shock to many. Since the announcement last week, the question of why has been frequently posed.

Many trace the shock decision back to the start of 2023. It was then that Didier Deschamps was forced to name a successor to Hugo Lloris as captain of Les Bleus. It was then that the former Tottenham Hotspur No.1, the most capped player in France’s history, decided to retire from international football.

Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé were the two frontrunners to wear the armband. Ultimately, it was the latter that got the nod. Feeling “undervalued” at international level has been a recurring problem. It was this feeling that forced Deschamps to travel to meet Griezmann when the latter considered international retirement in 2019.

Deschamps doesn’t believe that captaincy snub caused Griezmann’s retirement

Speaking to Téléfoot, former teammate Olivier Giroud revealed that the captaincy snub “affected” the Atletico Madrid forward. “The captaincy decision? He said that it affected him. He didn’t hide it. It’s legitimate; it’s normal,” said Giroud.

Deschamps admits that whilst Griezmann may have been “disappointed”, something that he remarked at the time, he does not believe that the snub was the reason for his international retirement, pointing to the amount of time that has elapsed since the decision to nominate Mbappé as captain.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle