Griezmann confesses disappointment at Mbappe France captaincy

French forward Antoine Griezmann has confessed that he initially felt disappointed after being passed over by coach Didier Deschamps, who instead named Kylian Mbappe as captain of the France national team. 

The vacancy for French captain was left open by the retirements from the national team of the two former most senior players, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and defender Raphael Varane, and many suspected that Griezmann would be the reasonable choice to succeed Lloris as captain, having been with the team for nearly a decade while still being one of its most important players. 

Instead, the armband was handed to 24-year-old Mbappe, the face of France’s new generation despite Griezmann outranking him in experience terms. 

The Atletico Madrid forward has recently admitted that the decision initially did not sit well with him, although he is now getting used to Mbappe being captain instead of him. 

Speaking ahead of France’s UEFA European Championship qualifier against Greece, Griezmann aired his views for the first time about the captaincy matter. 

He said, “It was hard to take, and tough. I’m 32 and, although I still have the legs, I know I’m reaching the end [of my career]. I had a hard time stomaching it for one or two days.“

He then pointed out that those feelings of disappointment are long gone as he is happy to represent France without being captain and threw his weight fully behind Mbappe to continue leading France. 

“I’m fully behind our captain Kylian,” Griezmann said, before continuing, “I won’t change anything, because that’s who I am.“

France are unbeaten since their World Cup final loss to Argentina in December and have claimed the maximum nine points from their opening three group games in Euros qualifying, and will be hoping to continue their superb streak when they take on Greece.