Nantes (AFP)

Thomas Lemar will regret the departure of Antoine Griezmann of Atletico Madrid: the two teammates have displayed a great complicity in the victory of the Blues against Bolivia, punctuated by their two goals Sunday in Nantes (2-0).

The evening will especially do good in Guadeloupe, which has just completed a complicated first season in the Spanish club. The attacking midfielder struggled to adapt to his arrival at Atlético and the defensive efforts required by coach Diego Simeone.

And he paid his difficulties in the French team playing very little: his last tenure was in June 2018, during the third group match of the World Cup against Denmark (0-0), a game he missed in the big widths, like the other French "hairdressers" (replacements).

Since then, the 23-year-old had only been allowed to meet, and Deschamps had even snubbed him in his list of March, before changing after the package of Anthony Martial.

Lemar seized his chance in Nantes, in this match without stake against the Bolivians, with a precious hand of the Madrilenian Griezmann ...

From the 5th minute, nicely served by "Grizou" on the left side, Lemar subtly lobbed the Bolivian goalkeeper Carlos Lampe, thus signing his 4th goal in 17 selections. He scored two of his last three goals in Blue after a passing by Antoine Griezmann, the statistician Opta immediately noted.

Then, he returned the match to Griezmann by striking the corner at the origin of the goal scored by the striker of the Blues, in the middle of the South American defense. Until his replacement by Kingsley Coman in the 66th, Lemar was often in the right tempo, guiding and opening the game.

- "Better on this end of season" -

It must be said that Didier Deschamps had encouraged him by announcing his list: "There (at Atlético), we asked him things he was not used to, which allowed him to broaden his range of efforts. Without a ball, it comes at the expense of its technical quality, Thomas has kept his quality which he has shown intermittently, and he is much better at the end of the season. "

Griezmann does not need such compliments. It has been in Nantes as since the Mondial the conductor of this team of France, in spite of some inaccuracies on corner.

In this game-free game, he often fought to get the balloons back. He could have scored in the 38th minute thanks to a nice head well repulsed by the keeper (38th) and was one of the few to continue his efforts in a duller end game.

His goal close in the 43rd minute, his 29th achievement in 70 selections, allows him as a bonus to occupy alone the 8th place in the ranking of the best French scorers, before Yuri Djorkaeff.

Since the start of the World Cup, "Grizou" has scored nine goals and five assists in the selection. It is more than ever essential to the Blues, who are preparing to play a game in Turkey, determining on the road to the Euro-2020.

The 28-year-old striker was equally inescapable at Atletico Madrid, but decided to change his mood this summer, hoping to finally shine in the Champions League. He has not announced his future club, but it is the name of FC Barcelona that returns in a loop, like last year.

Anyway, it will leave a gap to Atlético and will be missed by Thomas Lemar ...

? 2019 AFP