They called him Big Boots, too big for anyone else to fill. “Atlético Madrid is my life,” Luis Aragonés once said, and he was theirs too: the man who Fernando Torres, their favorite son, said “represents everything Atlético is,” and whose statue stands outside the Metropolitano . The coach who led them to the First Division title in 1977 and, when they needed him most, to the Second Division title 25 years later, led them four times in four different decades, starting with a win over the Intercontinental Cup at the age of 36. was also a midfielder with a funny step who won three leagues and two cups and looked to have won the European Cup when his extra-time free-kick beat Sepp Maier in the 1974 final. That was virtually the last of his 173 goals for the club, more than anyone else ever.
Until now. Just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, 49 years later, Atlético were awarded a penalty against Getafe. Álvaro Morata picked up the ball, but no one doubted who would take the ball. Antoine Griezmann knew this was coming, and so did everyone else, although not exactly how. This way he had time to think about the moment he had been waiting for, maybe even to fear it, but he knew where he was going – he had studied David Soria’s movements with Pablo Vercellone, the goalkeeping coach – and he also received support. “Luis Aragonés was going to take it,” said Diego Simeone.
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Hit high and hard, Soria got a hand on it, but it wasn’t enough. Atlético led 3-1, and Griezmann also had his 173rd Atlético. The man who scored the first goal at the Metropolitano had matched the man who scored the first goal at the Calderon, and their new house rose to celebrate both. He raised his hands to the sky, to Aragones, and then ran to Simeone, waiting for him on the sidelines, his arms wide open. The group hug grew bigger and everyone sang Aragonés’ name. “Today Antoine reached Luis’ numbers, incredible numbers,” said Simeone. “He deserves it: he is an extraordinary footballer and an ideal person for a team like Atlético.” It had cost him 364 games, six fewer than Aragonés.
It might not have been his funniest party ever – there were the Fortnite dances, the red and blue glitter borrowed from LeBron James, and nothing will ever beat him running around the Anoeta Racecourse and riding in a car with his Real Sociedad teammates steps, honking the horn and waving out the windows as if they’d just won a family fortune – but perhaps that’s what he felt most. “It’s very special,” he said.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Valencia, Granada 0-3 Sevilla, Atlético Madrid 3-3 Getafe, Barcelona 3-2 Almería, Athletic Club 1-0 Las Palmas, Villarreal 3-2 Celta Vigo
He also called it ‘a shame’. Two late goals from an excellent Getafe gave Atlético a record 21st consecutive home win, a wild match that finished 3-3. But if that record escaped them, if AS called this ‘historic… and bitter’ and Marca claimed that Getafe ‘poured cold water on Antoine’s party’, it is somehow correct, something that is a bit atlético about the. This is the club that lost the 1974 final when a ridiculous long-range shot in the final minute forced a replay, prompting the president to describe them as El Pupas, an accident waiting to happen; that has suffered That moment in Lisbon when they finally returned forty years later, and the other in Milan two years later; who built an identity around loyalty in the face of defeat and where the centenary song is: “What a way to lose!” and the song they actually played on their 100th birthday was You Can’t Always Get What You Want by the Stones.
Furthermore, this record won’t be taken away, maybe ever. When Griezmann was trying to decide what to do with his future in 2018, his wife Erika told him: if you go to Barcelona you are just a player, at Atlético you are history. She wasn’t wrong, even if he had to find out for himself. Going might have risked his legacy; it might have ruined it completely, but there was redemption in Tuesday’s collective celebration, something that went even deeper because he had left the way he had gone and also returned the way he had gone, his determination to make things right, to win them back. There was also something simpler, something almost childlike in him: he needs to feel happy, at home. And Atlético is his place, Simeone more than his manager.
Legend says that Griezmann was a disaster at Barcelona, but that’s not true and there was a reason why they spent 120 million euros on him. What is it is true that he was always a little awkward, and although he tried to ingratiate himself, he never quite succeeded are himself. Some people there sometimes thought it looked like he didn’t dare. He had also joined possibly the only club in the world where there was someone who did what he did, only better. Not so long ago, Rodrigo de Paul Griezmann was described as Atlético’s Lionel Messi, but Barcelona had the real Messi. “I told him: fly, I hope it goes well,” Simeone later revealed, but they kept in touch and when that didn’t happen there was only one place to go: home.
There were plenty who were against it. When Griezmann had joined Barcelona, his plaque had been thrown away outside the stadium and a few toy rats had been left behind. They knew he could be brilliant: he had led them to the Champions League final and won the Europa League. But curiously, Atlético had won two league titles: the year before he first arrived, and again after he left. More importantly, he had walked away the way he had walked away; that documentary and the one-year delay had only made the damage worse. He couldn’t just expect to walk back in as if nothing had happened.
He didn’t. Instead, he was acutely aware of what he had done. And even if many were not convinced, and if there was rejection, Simeone certainly was – not only that year, but also the year, despite its difficulties. On loan, Griezmann scored just three league goals, eight in total, in the first season and it could have all been there; Atlético certainly did not want to spend the transfer fee of forty million euros they had to pay if he played more than half the games in two seasons. There was a tendency at club level to send him back. However, the coach had other ideas and fought for them.
Then they came up with the idea of limiting him to less than 45 minutes per game to prevent the clause from coming into effect. A 60th minute sub, week after week, Griezmann accepted without a word of complaint and began to make the most of the few minutes he had. Barcelona were forced into a corner and negotiated a €20 million sale on a player who had cost them six times as much. Griezmann felt liberated, but there was still work to be done. “I know people want to hear from me: I’m sorry for the way I hurt them,” he said. He would later add, “I experienced that situation because I caused it. I had hurt the club and the best I could do was keep my mouth shut, work hard and do everything I could to help the manager.”
“When not everyone agreed with his return, I was convinced that he was born to play for Atlético,” said Simeone. “He grew, he left, he came back to a place where people felt uncomfortable because of his departure and he turned it around.”
All it took him being miles the best player in La Liga by 2023. Especially the way he did it. He finished last season with 15 goals and 16 assists in the league alone, and this season he is already 15th in all competitions. It’s not even about the objectives: it’s everything. It actually doesn’t feel right to call him an attacker. His 173 Atlético goals include 77 assists. Fortunately, it is now the dominance of the game and the responsibility and reliability that comes with it, the vision, the feeling and the intelligence, the efficiency in everything he does: there is nothing flashy, every pass perfectly weighted, every decision too perfectly weighted. .
Then there is the work, the values that former Atlético striker Kiko Narváez said Aragonés would have embraced. When Griezmann scored on Tuesday, the “kilometers” were the first thing Kiko mentioned. He is a brilliant footballer who plays and runs like crap. Only he also runs like a brilliant person: he is everywhere, except in the wrong place. “If you say to a player ‘play for free’, they don’t interpret it well,” as Simeone puts it. “Griezmann is the first football where you say ‘free play’ and he does everything well. He is extraordinary and has something special. He likes to understand where the team needs his input. He will certainly be history for Atlético.”
When Griezmann came home, there were four goalscorers in front of him, all history makers. Now there are none left, only Big Boots guide him to the penalty spot. “Whatever I say will not live up to his legend,” Griezmann said. “Everything that Atlético is is thanks to him. I feel an emotion, pride and happiness that I cannot explain. To be on par with him in terms of goals is magical and incredible for me, but there is still a lot to do and I will never be on his level because he is Luis Aragonés.”