Griezmann still stuck being Atlético’s super-sub as Real Madrid visit looms

Karim Benzema will not play in the Madrid derby. Jan Oblak will. And as for Antoine Griezmann, he’ll do both. You never know exactly what will happen when Atlético Madrid host Real Madrid, not any more at least, but on Sunday night at the Metropolitano there is one thing you can be reasonably sure of: on the hour, the man wearing the red and white shirt with the No 8 on the back will be standing at the side of the pitch, glancing up at the board and the clock, waiting to run on, his time having rolled around again, which it always does.

Every three or four days it is the same and although they did not expect to still be here deep into September and would like it to change soon, it isn’t going to just yet.

On Saturday, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that Benzema, unable to train with his teammates, will not make it while Diego Simeone confirmed that Oblak had recovered from injury and will. Without actually saying so, which is how he always says it, how he has to say it, Simeone also confirmed that Griezmann would get half an hour, plus added time. “For the moment, we’re carrying on like this,” the Atlético coach said.

Carry on might be the right words, too. Griezmann is not the only one waiting for the inevitable, almost a meme now; everyone else is, too. Atlético have played seven games. Their joint top scorer this season, who has scored eight times and provided five assists in his career against Madrid, has not started any. He has come on as a substitute in all of them. The minute in which he was introduced tell the story: 62, 62, 64, 63, 61, 63, 62.

Griezmann is on a two-year loan from Barcelona with an obligatory €40m purchase clause at the end, if he plays more than 45 minutes in half the games he is available. Atlético