{"id":1332047,"date":"2023-11-21T14:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1332047"},"modified":"2023-11-21T14:17:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:17:30","slug":"koke-antoine-griezmann-atletico-madrid-ballon-dor","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/koke-antoine-griezmann-atletico-madrid-ballon-dor\/","title":{"rendered":"Koke says playing for Atleti was a factor behind Antoine Griezmann’s low Ballon d’Or finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atletico Madrid captain Koke believes teammate Antoine Griezmann playing for the Spanish club resulted in a lowly 2023 Ballon d’Or finish.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The native of M\u00e2con picked up a total of four points leaving him in 21st place which put him behind Harry Kane and Lautaro Mart\u00ednez but in front of Kim Min-jae.<\/p>\n

Koke feels Griezmann did enough to warrant a higher standing but feels turning out for Los Colchoneros isn’t high-profile or glamorous and that subsequently played a factor in the result.<\/p>\n\n

“I believe that Griezmann is not higher because he plays for Atleti,” he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

“He has all the marketing, with France he has played in two World Cup finals, he won one and was close to another; he almost won a European Championship, last year he was the best in La Liga and has been the best this year.<\/p>\n

“I am not the one who votes but it is true that if he played for another team he would have that recognition.”<\/p>\n

Three stats that show why Antoine Griezmann’s 2022\/23 was underrated<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Koke may have a point that Griezmann’s achievements in the past year may have been overlooked.<\/p>\n

For starters in 2022\/23, Griezmann became the first Atl\u00e9tico player to score 15+ goals and provide 15+ assists in a single La Liga campaign in the 21st century, though it wasn’t enough to guide Diego Simeone’s men to championship glory.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, since the 2022 World Cup ended, no one across Europe’s top five divisions created more goals than France’s playmaker-in-chief (10 assists).<\/p>\n

He also finished Qatar 2022 as the competition’s joint-leading assist-maker with three.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n