Griezmann Imitates Messi And LeBron As He Stars In Barcelona Triumph
26th August 2019
But as Carles Perez, Jordi Alba and Arturo Vidal made it three, four and five, the gloom was forgotten, along with Nabil Fekir's opener in the 15th minute
- Antoine Griezmann copied Lionel Messi for the goal and LeBron James for the celebration but it was his night for Barcelona on Sunday after he scored twice in a 5-2 win over Real Betis
- Griezmann imitated the basketball superstar by tossing confetti into the air to celebrate his second at Camp Nou, a curling effort into the corner that he said was inspired by watching Messi
- Yet Griezmann was the star, if only for the night with Messi in the stands, the Argentinian still short of fitness following a calf injury
MADRID, Spain- Antoine
Griezmann copied Lionel Messi for the goal and LeBron James for the celebration
but it was his night for Barcelona on Sunday after he scored twice in a 5-2 win
over Real Betis.
Griezmann imitated the basketball superstar by tossing
confetti into the air to celebrate his second at Camp Nou, a curling effort
into the corner that he said was inspired by watching Messi.
"I saw Leo do this in training, so I tried to copy
him," said Griezmann. "And for the celebration, I like the ritual
that LeBron did so we tried to do it as well."
Yet Griezmann was the star, if only for the night with Messi
in the stands, the Argentinian still short of fitness following a calf injury.
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A brilliant Barcelona performance also delivered a
resounding response to the doubts arising from their defeat by Athletic Bilbao
last weekend, among them a reliance on Messi, the need for Neymar and the
future of Ernesto Valverde as coach.
But as Carles Perez, Jordi Alba and Arturo Vidal made it
three, four and five, the gloom was forgotten, along with Nabil Fekir's opener
in the 15th minute, that had Betis level at half-time.
"After a defeat, there is always a big reaction,"
Griezmann said. "We really wanted to play another game and when so many
players are missing, the team steps up."
Loren Moron slammed a late strike into the top corner for
Betis but by then the game was up as Barca ensured no further ground was lost
on Atletico Madrid, who beat Leganes 1-0 earlier on Sunday, or Real Madrid, who
were held to a 1-1 draw on Saturday by Real Valladolid.