Floating midfielder Griezmann ready to sail France ship to World Cup title

DOHA : Less than two years ago, Antoine Griezmann was wandering around like a lost soul in La Liga after a tough time at Barcelona and a rough return to Atletico Madrid but on Sunday he could lay claim to being France's greatest player.

While Kylian Mbappe will also be a double world champion if Les Bleus beat Argentina in the final at the Lusail Stadium and could win the tournament's Golden Boot, Griezmann has been the cornerstone of France's success since Didier Deschamps took over in 2012.

He has played in a record 73 consecutive matches for France, led them to the Euro 2016 final, was man-of-the-match in the 2018 World Cup final and this year has seamlessly switched roles to midfield to great effect.

A forward who was Euro 2016's top scorer and the silver boot winner as the second-highest goalscorer at the 2018 World Cup, Griezmann has adjusted his role after Deschamps was forced to recalibrate his midfield due to the absences of Ngolo Kante, Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema.

There was no sulking from Griezmann, who has been revelling in his new role - his guile, craft and poise making him the perfect player to wreak havoc between the lines.

"Being well physically helps me a lot. There are no problems in my private life," said Griezmann. "In my head I had tough moments at Barca and last year when I came back to Atletico. It was complicated, I had to make myself very small, I had to find myself, on and off the pitch."

BIG AGAIN

Griezmann has grown big in stature again. Very big indeed.

"GriezmannKante", Pogba labelled his team mate on social media after the 2-0 semi-final win against Morocco.

"He has surprised me but he has the quality and intelligence to do it. He looks more like Kante than Griezmann," said former Ivory Coast