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Antoine Griezmann's rise from unfancied youngster to Euro 2016 superstar

Antoine Griezmann 8 July

France's Antoine Griezmann has been the star of Euro 2016. Ahead of Sunday's final against Portugal, we look at his unlikely rise to the top.

He was deemed too small by French clubs as a youngster - but Antoine Griezmann has stood head and shoulders above the rest at Euro 2016.

The 25-year-old scored his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament with his match-winning double against Germany on Thursday night. It followed a goal and two assists against Iceland in the quarter-finals, another double against the Republic of Ireland in the last 16, and a crucial late header against Albania during the group stage.

Griezmann trascina la Francia con una doppietta. Il 7 francese andrà a sfidare in finale l'altro grande protagonista di Euro 2016 con il 7 sulla magia: CR7 (Getty Image)
Image: Griezmann scored France's opener from the penalty spot against Germany

His stunning performances have lit up Euro 2016. He has scored twice as many goals as any other player, and it's no wonder L'Equipe are calling this France team Génération Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid forward has achieved national hero status and put his country on the brink of glory on their own soil.

Euro 2016 top scorers

Player Country Goals
Antoine Griezmann France 6
Alvaro Morata Spain 3
Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal 3
Dimitri Payet France 3
Gareth Bale Wales 3
Nani Portugal 3
Olivier Giroud France 3

His achievements are historic. Griezmann has already scored more European Championship goals than Zinedine Zidane, and with one more against Portugal on Sunday he will surpass Thierry Henry's total. "He is a great player and he proved that tonight," said Didier Deschamps on Thursday. Only Michel Platini has scored more goals in the competition.

Griezmann's starring performances in France have come on the back of a dazzling campaign with Atletico. He missed a penalty in their heartbreaking Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid at the end of May, but a total of 32 goals in 54 appearances represented the best season of his career. Diego Simeone described him as one of the top three players in the world.

Antoine Griezmann
Image: Griezmann has scored twice as many goals as any other player at Euro 2016

Griezmann is certainly justifying his manager's faith, but his route to the top is no straight-forward success story. While the vast majority of elite footballers spent their formative years in professional academy systems, Griezmann spent his playing for an amateur side in his hometown of Mâcon in the French region of Bergundy.

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France's top clubs were put off by his diminutive size and slight frame, and it wasn't until the age of 13 that he got his break. Griezmann was spotted by a Real Sociedad scout named Eric Olhats while he was playing at a youth tournament in Paris, and soon enough the Basque club had convinced him to join them - 500 miles away in the north of Spain.

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Initially, Griezmann stayed with Olhats in the French town of Bayonne, allowing him to continue his schooling in France and travel across the Spanish border to train with Sociedad. "He ended up living in my house for three or four years," Olhats said in an interview with Marca years later. "I was his father, his mother, his grandmother and his coach."

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Image: Griezmann made his La Liga breakthrough with Real Sociedad

Griezmann eventually moved to San Sebastian permanently and became a rising star in Sociedad's youth set-up. What he lacked in physical stature he made up for in speed and technical skill, and within five years he was promoted to the first-team, making his debut as an 18-year-old in September 2009.

Over the next five seasons, Griezmann became a key player for Sociedad, scoring 52 goals in 201 games and representing France at various youth levels. Then, in the summer of 2014, he completed his £24m move to Atletico.

Griezmann has flourished under Simeone. His Spanish footballing education is clear in the technical side of his game, and he has also had to develop in a defensive sense in order to satisfy the demands of his manager at Atletico. "He asks a lot of his players and demands a lot of intensity," Griezmann said last season. "If your guard is down even a bit in training, he tells you to put extra effort in quickly."

Antoine Griezmann celebrates with his Atletico Madrid team-mates
Image: Griezmann scored 32 goals for Atletico Madrid in 2015/16

Simeone has transformed Griezmann from a wide player into a devastatingly effective central striker, and he has showcased his broad range of strengths at Euro 2016. He has set the tone with his tireless work-rate, and he has scored all kinds of goals, from brilliantly taken headers to clinical one-on-one-one finishes.

And so to the Euro 2016 final. The boy from Bergundy had to move to Spain to launch his career, but the whole of France is behind him now. Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal stand in his way, but this will go down as Griezmann's tournament if he can take Les Bleus over the line in Paris on Sunday night. 

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