Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann said he was proud to be part of his club’s history after his goal in Tuesday night’s 4-2 Champions League round-of-16 first-leg win at Bayer Leverkusen made him the Liga outfit’s leading all-time goal scorer in the competition.
A helter-skelter game saw Atletico 2-0 up by half-time thanks to a 20 yard curler from Saul Niguez and Griezmann’s neat finish from an unselfish Kevin Gameiro assist.
The drama continued after the break with Bayer forward Karim Bellarabi quickly grabbing one back, then Gameiro winning and netting a penalty for 3-1.
A mistake from visiting goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya soon lead to a Stefan Savic own-goal, before Atletico substitute Fernando Torres’ late header put Atletico in control of the tie ahead of the return game at the Calderon on March 15.
Griezmann’s 13th Champions League goal for Atletico put him one ahead of club legend Luis Aragones in the competition, and the reported Manchester United and Arsenal summer target told Spanish TV station BeIn Sports after the final whistle that his aim was to help his current side as much as he could.
“I am very happy for that,” Griezmann said. “For me it makes me very proud to be part of the history of this club. I want to do the best possible, help the team as much as I can, and hopefully it can continue like this.”
Beaten 2014 and 2016 finalists Atletico are now big favourites to progress to the quarterfinals for a fourth consecutive time, but Griezmann said he and his side were taking nothing for granted at this point.
“We knew it would be a difficult game, we wanted to win it and we did that,” he said. “They made it difficult for us, with their pressing. But the coach’s changes helped us and we have two goals’ advantage now. We still have a big game to play, in front of our fans, and we hope to win it too.”
Gameiro has now assisted on Griezmann goals on seven different occasions this season, and the latter said he hoped to be able to return the favour soon.
“We talk often before the game about who will pass to who,” he said. “We get on very well together as we are both scoring goals, and we hope it can continue like this.
“He has seven assists for me, and me three or four for him. We try and look for each other, I know he likes the ball in behind, I try to put it there as best I can for him.”
TV caught Griezmann appearing to disagree with coach Diego Simeone’s decision when Gameiro was substituted midway through the second half, but played down the incident when speaking afterwards.
“I saw [Gameiro] was playing well, he was helping us,” he said. “But the boss sees things well and he took him off.”
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