Diego Simeone pays emotional tribute to departing Antoine Griezmann ahead of Barcelona tie

Last month, it was confirmed that Antoine Griezmann will be leaving Atletico Madrid at the end of the season. The 35-year-old has agreed terms with MLS side Orlando City, whom he will join once the transfer window opens in the summer.

It means that Griezmann only has a handful of matches left in the Rojiblanco of Atleti, with the first of those coming on Wednesday when they face Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. Ahead of it, both he and Diego Simeone were speaking to the media, and the Argentine delivered a poignant speech to the veteran forward, as per MD.

“Thank you for all your work, all your humility. You are an admirable person for today’s boys, and for a society that needs people like you. Thank you for everything you gave us, everything you give us and everything I am going to force you to continue giving us. Thank you for your commitment, for how you always behaved as a professional, as a person, knowing how to differentiate that beautiful relationship we have as a family and not cross that difficult line to take that is that of the coach and the player friend. I consider you a player and then a friend.”

“There will be eight league games, one Copa del Rey game and God willing, we are going to play five more games in the Champions League. I invite you to continue enjoying, I love you very much. If any Atletico Madrid fan were here today, they would say the same words. I feel absolutely identified with them. I am your coach, you know that if you don’t run tomorrow you go out. Nothing more. Sorry. I just wanted to say these words.”

Griezmann will hope to end Atleti spell on a high

The next two months will be very emotional for Griezmann, but he has a job to do. Atleti contest the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad later this month, while they hope to get rid of the demons of 2016 and 2018 by finally getting their hands on the Champions League trophy.