No injuries, no illnesses, no corona and no games for the record. Nothing has prevented Antoine Griezmann from wearing the uniform of the French national team in recent years and today (Sunday), when he started in the lineup of the world champions against Poland in the round of 16 of the World Cup, he broke a national record: participation in 71 consecutive matches of the tricolor. The previous record, by the way, belonged to our current coach Didier Deschamps.
Griezmann made his 114th appearance for France in an impressive international career. The last game he missed was a friendly against England on June 13, 2017, when he sat on the bench.
In his first game in a row, Griezmann scored and assisted as France defeated the Netherlands 4:0 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Four goals, four assists and a World Cup sweep in Russia followed and some disappointments as well.
He started in most of the games, but there were also some in which he was included as a substitute, for example the 1:0 loss to Tunisia in the group stage, in which he also scored a disallowed goal deep in extra time.
Another player who equaled huge records against Poland is goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The captain who lifted the cup in Russia four years ago made his 142nd appearance in the national uniform, thus equaling another world champion of the tricolor – Lilian Thuram. The goalkeeper also equaled Fabian Barthez and Thierry Henry as France’s most appearances at the World Cup with 17.
The full broadcast schedule of the 2022 World Cup