France boss Didier Deschamps has jumped in defence of Antoine Griezmann after the forward missed his third consecutive penalty for Les Bleus.
France boss Didier Deschamps didn’t seem too worried by Griezmann and his latest penalty miss for Les Bleus on Saturday.
The Barcelona forward missed a stoppage-time spot-kick in his side’s 1-0 Nations League win over Sweden.
That stat now means the 29-year-old has missed his last three penalties for France.
Deschamps spoke about Griezmann after the match and said he would be happy for the 29-year-old to continue taking penalties.
After what was a difficult season for the forward at Barcelona, Deschamps admits the player must get back to his flowing best once again.
“All attacking players, to make a difference, need a boost,” Deschamps said as quoted by Goal.
“He felt better and better as the match went on, he is one of the [players in the] squad who hasn’t been playing for 15 days now.”
“So, he needs to turn the machine on again.”
On the penalty miss, Deschamps is happy to leave Griezmann as his designated spot-kick taker.
“He knows he missed the penalty, like his last two,” he added.
“But he hasn’t taken one for a while, he needs to get used to it again.
“For the moment he feels happy to take one; if there is another one I’ll let him take it, of course.”
France take on Croatia on Tuesday in what would be a repeat of the World Cup 2018 final.
Griezmann would be looking to put his penalty miss to bed and will aim to get back on the score-sheet.
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