As much as from the surroundings of Barça, Antoine Griezmann was pointed out as an alternative to Luis Suarez at the point of attack, it is obvious that the two are tremendously different players. Just take a look at the cold statistics. It is true that both accumulate 142 goals in LaLiga. However, the French has achieved them so far in 345 meetings with the Real Sociedad, Atlético and Barcelona shirts, while the Uruguayan has scored them all as Barça and has needed 165 games less. Griezmann is not a killer .

In spite of everything, the Bernabéu has not given anything bad to the French in recent years. Last season, the last one as rojiblanco, was left unmarked, but in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 he scored goals that were worth to start points of the Madrid fief. The first of them served to make his team win the minimum, while the other two allowed the mattress set to seal two draws. His rojiblanco performances in Chamartín were decisive for Atlético to be clear dominator of the league derby while Griezmann wore his shirt.

The injury of Luis Suárez in the right knee, which led him to go through the operating room and that will take him out at least until the end of April, has placed the French as the first option in the attack point of Barça. Leo Messi prefers to move freely and Martin Braithwaite , signed as a replacement for an Ousmane Dembélé that will miss the rest of the season, is not a nine to use. Therefore, and for the 120 million euros that cost his signing, all eyes will be focused on Antoine Griezmann when looking for a reference in the forefront.

"It's complicated for Messi to see me"

A position where you don't feel comfortable. He is used to launching the unchecking and looking for the back of the defense, but his teammates at Barça have not yet fully understood his way of playing. «Messi? It's hard, he's on the right, and I'm more on the left. It is quite complicated to meet him and see me, but when we play in the middle, we try to combine and I try to look for passes in depth, since that is my job at Barça, ”said the Frenchman at Radio Montecarlo at the end of the duel in front of Naples, where he scored the only Barca goal.

And it's also about him getting used to Barça. «I knew that, coming here, it was going to take me some time to adapt to the team. It is a different job, but it is important for me to help colleagues, ”he added. In Italy, the French again achieved somewhat important. Something that has already done, even in pairs, in the Cup qualifier against Ibiza. The fact of having scored in the Champions League can become the stimulus you need to improve your LaLiga statistics. So far, he has scored eight goals in 24 games and has gone through two important periods of drought. Last Saturday, before Eibar, Messi looked for him shamelessly to add one more notch to his revolver after beating Getafe on the previous day. Unsuccessfully. Now, in a Bernabéu that is good for you, you can take another step forward in your adaptation process.

Piqué, ready for the classic

Gerard Piqué will be on the grass to measure Real Madrid in the classic. Although his gestures of pain in the final stretch of the game against Napoli led to think that the central could suffer a sprained ankle, he trained with total normality in Friday's preparatory session and, unless last-minute surprise, his Ownership seems more than assured.

The Barca center, of course, was not at all willing to miss the duel with the eternal rival. A meeting for which he is always especially motivated. Piqué, in fact, did not even undergo medical tests after playing against Naples, but simply did recovery work for two days before returning to the group.

Jordi Alba , meanwhile, did part of the work with the rest of his teammates, but his return to the team should still take a few days. The side suffered a break in the adductor of the right leg last February 15, during the game against Getafe, and was speculated then that he would be about three weeks off. The classic comes too soon.

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