Atleti’s Antoine Griezmann in excellent form as he prepares to face boyhood club Real Sociedad | OneFootball

The Frenchman is now the leader of Atletico Madrid’s attack and has scored three goals so far this La Liga season.

This Sunday’s duel between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad (4.15pm CEST) isn’t just a meeting of two of the best sides in Spain and in Europe, both of whom come into the fixture after Champions League commitments. It’s also a chance for Antoine Griezmann to face his boyhood club. Having enrolled in the Zubieta academy at the age of 14, Griezmann will always have a special connection with Real Sociedad, the club that propelled him towards stardom and that set him off on his way to making 505 La Liga appearances… and counting.

Griezmann has played these 505 games for three clubs and across two divisions. With Real Sociedad, he appeared in 180 matches, 39 of them in Segunda in the 2009/10 season, when he was one of the most outstanding players as Martin Lasarte’s side won promotion, starring alongside the likes of Xabi Prieto and Claudio Bravo. After four successful seasons with the Basque club’s first team in La Liga, during which time he netted 46 goals, the forward then headed to Atletico Madrid.

Under Diego Simeone, he has made 251 league outings over two spells, with his time at Barcelona briefly pausing his career with Los Rojiblancos. At the capital city club, he has managed to score 114 goals in La Liga and become one of the fan favourites. The forward is even within reach of Luis Aragones, as he could overtake him as the player with the most goals in the history of Atletico Madrid.

Griezmann’s time at FC Barcelona may not have brought him all the success he had hoped for, but it did allow him to add 74 more La Liga appearances that also count towards his great milestone of 500 La Liga appearances. Under Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien and Ronald Koeman, he scored a total of 22 goals before returning to Los Colchoneros.

His tally is all the more impressive when considering that only 36 other players in the history of La Liga have managed to reach that figure, and the Frenchman is close to being the foreigner with the most appearances, as his 505 games means he is closing in on the 520 played by Lionel Messi. On the overall podium stand Ruben Castro (717), Nino (709), and Robert Fernandez (674).

Griezmann, still to win La Liga

Among his honours, Griezmann has one Segunda championship to his name, the one won with Real Sociedad in the 2009/10 season. However, he has yet to win the elusive La Liga title which has eluded him in past seasons and with which he has a curious history. When he arrived at Atletico Madrid in 2014, the capital city team had just become champions. The same thing happened to him in 2019, when he signed for Barcelona, who had just won the league title. Then, his return to Los Rojiblancos in 2021 came after Atletico Madrid’s recent victory in La Liga in the 2020/21 season.

As a 2018 World Cup winner with France, and boasting many club and national team trophies to his name, the player with more than 500 appearances in La Liga has this one major objective left in his career in Spanish football. He was one of the best players in La Liga last season, and hopes to lead Atletico Madrid to glory in 2023/24.

Image via THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images. Article via La Liga.

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