Atletico Madrid star leading big 5 European Leagues from the bench

Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann is playing a different role this season, but continues to be a key contributor for Diego Simeone. It was a slow start for the Frenchman, but could arguably be described as their form player now.

The 34-year-old, for the first time in a while is now no longer a guaranteed starter, with Simeone often opting for Julian Alvarez alongside one of Alexander Sorloth or Alex Baena. Yet from the bench, Griezmann has become an effective super-sub.

Griezmann leads top 5 European leagues off the bench

According to Marca, Griezmann has more goals off the bench than any other player in the top five European leagues. Six times Griezmann has joined the action late only to get on the scoresheet, part of a total of nine goals and one assist across all competitions. It makes him Atletico’s second-top goalscorer this season, behind only Julian Alvarez with 11 strikes.

That is despite just 1,018 minutes on the pitch, less that Alexander Sorloth (5 goals), while Alvarez has played 1,774 minutes.

BREAKING: Artem Dovbyk has been offered to Atlético Madrid, but the club REJECTED.

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— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) December 26, 2025

5th in all-time Atletico Madrid appearances

It is not the only milestone to his name this season, having now become joint-5th on Atletico’s all-time appearance list. His 470th came in their 3-0 win over Girona last weekend, in which the Frenchman netted their third in stoppage time, equalling Enrique Collar. Ahead of him lie only Tomas Renones (483), Jan Oblak (517), Adelardo (553) and current captain Koke Resurreccion (704).

Griezmann’s contribution this season

Following Griezmann’s winner against Valencia earlier in December, manager Diego Simeone spoke in glowing terms about his role with the squad to Into the Calderon.

“I’m not surprised because star players never cause problems. In the history of teams, star players, real star players, don’t cause problems.”

“They understand their place, they know that the years have passed, they know that they have a different place, they accept why they are in the squad and, beyond the fact that they want to play, it’s normal that they want to play every game, they give their all, as Antoine Griezmann and, in this case, Koke are showing today.”

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