Barcelona Are Playing With '10 Players' When Antoine Griezmann Is On The Pitch

Legendary striker Hristo Stoichkov has not held back when criticising Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann in a quite remarkable interview.

The 55-year-old Bulgarian, who spent two years at Barcelona in the mid 90's, even went as far as saying they 'are playing with 10 players' whenever Griezmann is on the pitch.

Image: PA

Griezmann has only scored 12 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions this season. In fact, he has failed to find the net in his last 10 appearances for the Spanish giants - a disappointing return for someone of his quality.

And a clearly unimpressed Stoichkov slated the 29-year-old in a recent interview with Sportsport.ba via El Mundo Deportivo.

"Whenever Griezmann is on the pitch, Barcelona are playing with 10 players," Stoichkov told Sportsport.ba.

"If they want to do something good in the long-term, they have to sell him. Trincao and Braithwaite must be in the team, what is Griezmann doing there?'

The World Cup winner has struggled to find his feet at the Camp Nou since arriving from Atletico Madrid in a £108 million deal in the summer of 2019.

Image: PA

Back in November, Lionel Messi's attitude towards teammate Griezmann was described as 'deplorable' by the Frenchman's former advisor, who actually blamed Messi and Barcelona for his former client's lack of form.

The relationship between Messi and Griezmann was reportedly icy at best.

And former advisor Eric Olhats blamed Messi and the club for his former protegee's lack of form.

"Antoine arrived in a struggling club where Messi has a view on everything. He's at the same time emperor and monarch, and he didn't see Antoine's arrival with a good eye," Olhats told France Football, via Sport Witness.

"His attitude has been deplorable, he made him feel that. I've always heard Antoine say there's no problem with Messi, but never the other way around.

"In my eyes, Messi said he wanted to leave to see what role he still had as a decision-making player, regarding the players who arrived and those who left, but he eventually stayed. Classic Messi!

"As good on the pitch as he is bad off it... Barcelona has been suffering for a while. There was a cancer in that club, and it obviously leaves some marks."

Topics: Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, La Liga

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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