“We’re not going to reproach you for anything.”
Fernando Torres has left Atletico Madrid for the second time in his career, and Antoine Griezmann is expected to follow him this summer. Torres was given a great send-off by his boyhood club on Sunday, when he scored twice in the win over Eibar at the Wanda Metropolitano, a few days after lifting the Europa League trophy for the Spanish club.
Torres’ next club is still unknown, but it is looking increasingly likely that Griezmann will join Barcelona before the new season starts. The French forward has been brilliant for Atletico since joining from Real Sociedad in 2014. Reports suggest that he will move to Barca for £100m this summer, and news seemingly reached the fans in attendance on Sunday.
Griezmann came on the pitch for the final 30-minutes of the win, and his every touch was booed by the Atletico supporters. The 27-year-old had scored twice in the Europa League victory over Marseille a few days previous, but fans took aim at him over his potential move to Barcelona.
However, he still had the support of his Atletico teammates.
In the clip below, Torres can be seen putting his arm around Griezmann and then captain Gabi held up seven fingers to the crowd – in honour of Griezmann who wears number seven.
On the bench, Diego Simeone sent Diego Godin over to some supporters to ask them to start cheering for Griezmann and it worked. The stadium began chanting his name. Torres returned to his teammate and said, “We’re not going to reproach you for anything” and told him how important he was to the team.
This struck a chord with Griezmann, who could be seen wiping tears from his eyes.
You can watch the incident here:
