Antoine Griezmann almost played for Portugal

Having a Portuguese grandfather, in November 2012, Antoine Griezmann almost chose to play for this country after receiving disciplinary action from the French Football Federation.

Griezmann almost played for his grandfather Amaro Lopes' team.

Antoine Amaro Lopes – Griezmann’s maternal grandfather was a Portuguese midfielder who played for Pacos de Pereira. In the late 1950s, he went to France to look for work after his football career ended.

His journey took him to the city of Macon, near Lyon, where he found work on a construction website. It was also where Griezmann’s mother, Isabelle, was born. Amaro Lopes died in 1992, just a year after his grandchild was born.

Griezmann is shining brightly at Euro 2016 for France, scoring 6 goals, helping his team reach the final. But nearly 4 years ago, he almost chose to play for his grandfather's homeland.

In November 2012, the Atletico Madrid striker was disciplined by the French Football Federation for going out at night. At that time, the player born in 1991 took a taxi with his teammates and escaped from the training camp in La Havre to go to Paris.

During his sentence, Griezmann left all possibilities open, but fortunately he remained loyal to France.

In addition to Portugal, this striker also has a relationship with Spain. Griezmann showed his football talent very early, but Lyon Club criticized him for his small body so they did not recruit him to the youth training center. Everything changed in 2005, Griezmann went to the French capital to attend a tournament organized by Paris Saint Germain Club.

His talent was noticed by French scout Eric Olhats, who works for Real Sociedad. The San Sebastian club provides an ideal environment for Griezmann to develop, not to mention their headquarters are close to the border with France.

But the obstacles still remained, because the French player was still too small compared to his teammates of the same age, not to mention having to learn Spanish. Therefore, every day he would go across the border to practice football and return to France in the evening to study culture.

It was not until 2009 that Griezmann had significant changes in his physique (he is now 1.75 m tall). Thanks to that, he was able to compete with his opponents. That year, the left-footed striker and talented teammates such as Inigo Martinez and Ruben Pardo played very well for the Real Sociedad youth team in a national tournament. He became the tournament's top scorer and helped his team defeat Atletico Madrid in the final after a penalty shootout.

This milestone marked a turning point for the Portuguese striker. Notably, as soon as he signed a professional contract with the Basque team in 2009, he immediately told his mother to stop working as a cleaner at the hospital in his hometown.

And now that dutiful son is France's number one hope to conquer Europe's number one tournament.

According to Zing.vn