Antoine Griezmann was the hero for Atletico Madrid as the French striker scored twice in their 3-0 win over Marseille in Wednesday’s Europa League final.
It is Griezmann’s first major title as an Atletico player, and a fitting way to bow out if he leaves at the season’s end, with Barcelona tipped as his next destination.
Griezmann, who hails from Macon, just 70 kilometres from Lyon scored once in each half, his lethal finishes coming to either side of Marseille losing Dimitri Payet to injury, the French side’s captain coming off in tears.
He now has 29 goals for the season, although it was Gabi’s late strike that put the seal on the victory.
Atletico Madrid’s Spanish forward Fernando Torres holds the trophy past teammates after winning the UEFA Europa League final football match between Olympique de Marseille and Club Atletico de Madrid at the Parc OL stadium in Decines-Charpieu, near Lyon on May 16, 2018.
Atletico won 3-0. / AFP PHOTO / Jean-Philippe KSIAZEK
Atletico’s players celebrate with the trophy after the UEFA Europa League final football match between Olympique de Marseille and Club Atletico de Madrid at the Parc OL stadium in Decines-Charpieu, near Lyon on May 16, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JEFF PACHOUD
Marseille had been desperate to win the second European trophy in their history, on French soil, 25 years after beating AC Milan in the inaugural Champions League final in Munich.
But it was a flat night for their huge support, who threatened to ruin the occasion by constantly lighting flares and setting off firecrackers at one end of the stadium, with some even being thrown onto the pitch towards the end.
The game carried on regardless, with Rudi Garcia’s side well beaten by Diego Simeone’s Atletico.
Their triumph comes after their agonising defeats to city rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League finals of 2014 and 2016. They had previously won the Europa League in 2010 and again in 2012, the latter coming just six months after Simeone’s appointment.
Simeone served a touchline ban here, meaning assistant German ‘Mono’ Burgos nominally took charge, but that did not perturb them on the field.
Having fallen into this competition by virtue of a shock group-stage exit from the Champions League, Atletico were the favourites against a Marseille side whose continental campaign had begun in the third qualifying round last July.
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