France forward Antoine Griezmann has followed up his Golden Boot award by being named the Euro 2016 Player of the Tournament following his outstanding displays this summer.
The Atletico Madrid star was one of the players tipped shine at the tournament before a ball had been kicked, and despite a slow start – in which he was dropped for Les Bleus’ second group game against Albania – he found his best form at the round of 16 stage and didn’t look back thereafter.
A committee of 13 UEFA experts has analysed individual performances and statistics from the tournament and announced on Monday that Griezmann was the best.
The committee of experts is a well known one with Sir Alex Ferguson heading other football luminaries such as David Moyes, Packie Bonner, Thomas Schaaf and Savo Milosevic.
He wins the prestigious award having finished as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals in seven appearances and also weighed in with two assists as France reached the final against Portugal.
Griezmann netted two braces during the competition, the first of which came against the Republic of Ireland as his impact in the second half turned the game in favour of his country and kick-started his campaign.
The 25-year-old’s best performance was arguably in the 2-0 semi-final victory over world champions Germany as he netted either side of the interval to book France’s place in the final, however, he was unable to be his country’s hero once again as Eder’s winner in extra-time broke hearts of an entire nation.
Although, beating the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to the Player of the Tournament award is a worthy consolation for the Frenchman.
After Griezmann’s performances there may well be a deep sigh of relief from those in charge at the Estadio Vicente Calderon with the Frenchman having signed a contract extension in June.
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