Euro 2016: Antoine Griezmann 'not player of the tournament', says former France star Frank Leboeuf
The 48-year-old Frenchman argued that Portugal's Pepe was more deserving of the award
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Your support makes all the difference.Former France international Frank Leboeuf believes Antoine Griezmann should not have been named as Player of the Tournament at Euro 2016.
Leboeuf, won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships with France, insists his fellow countryman was not a deserving recipient of the award.
He argues that Portugal centre-back Pepe was more deserving of the accolade instead.
Despite impressing for France in the knockout stages, in which he scored in all three games against Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Germany, Griezmann struggled against Portugal in Sunday’s final.
The Frenchman enjoyed one close chance early on in the game but the 25-year-old was kept largely under wraps by Portugal’s Pepe. In spite of this, UEFA still crowned Griezmann as the Player of the Tournament
But Leboeuf has argued that the forward was not consistent enough throughout the tournament.
“I like Griezmann a lot, but he was not the player of the tournament. I do not agree with this choice,” Leboeuf told RMC.
“We have to be critical. We only saw him from the quarter-finals on. He got two chances in the final, but he did not take them. We did not see too much of him otherwise.
“But UEFA has always worked like this. They always give man of the match to the player who scored, too.”
As implied by Leboeuf, Griezmann caught all the headlines with his goals. Having scored six goals for France, the forward also picked up the tournament’s Golden Boot.
Leboeuf added that: “For me, there was someone like Pepe, you had Gareth Bale who led Wales the way, There were a number of players who showed a lot of quality.
“Pepe was in great form right from the start until the very end. Griezmann on the other hand was dropped for the second game.”
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