Most combined goals and assists in LaLiga, post-World Cup Then he went back to Madrid and became the best player in LaLiga. He advanced the ball steadily, and in this surprising new role, he was one of the primary reasons France reached the World Cup final. Playing more in an attacking midfield role for a loaded French team, he attempted only six shots in 537 minutes but provided three assists from 22 chances created. The World Cup was evidently a transformative experience. Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) As disappointing as the season had been, it would have been much worse without Griezmann. With his minutes carefully monitored to avoid triggering an obligatory buy clause in his loan deal with Barcelona, he'd scored the game winner against Porto, and with a permanent deal reached in October, he had scored game winners against Athletic Club and Real Betis away from home, too. Griezmann had played reasonably well to that point. They were fifth in LaLiga, 13 points back of first-place Barcelona, and the annual "Is this it for Diego Simeone?" speculation had begun. They finished last in a winnable Champions League group with Porto, Club Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen - winning just one match and losing all three road games by a combined 6-1 - which meant their European adventure was done for the season far earlier than normal. Somehow one of the more well-regarded players of the past decade snuck up on us this season.Ītletico Madrid reached November's World Cup break with almost nothing but a top-four finish left to play for. What will he accomplish in 2023-24? David Aliaga/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesPrime inductee: Antoine Griezmann, MF, Atletico Madrid Lifetime achievement: the entire Real Madrid midfieldĪntoine Griezmann has been seemingly reinvented by a move into midfield for club and country. Giorgos Athanasiadis (Sheriff Tiraspol), Sofian Boufal (Angers), Antonio Candreva (Sampdoria), Diego and Yimmi Chara (Portland Timbers), Edin Dzeko (Inter), Sebastien Haller (Ajax), Kim Little (Arsenal), Joel Matip (Liverpool), Anthony Modeste (Koln), Iker Munain (Athletic Club), Dimitry Payet (Marseille), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Oscar Trejo (Rayo Vallecano), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage) Lifetime achievement: Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Ciro Immobile (Lazio) Here are the first two Gundogan Award induction classes (prime inductees in bold):īenjamin Andre (Lille), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Sebastian Coates (Sporting CP), Liam Cooper (Leeds United), Juan Cuadrado (Juventus), Andy Delort (Montpellier), Magnus Wolff Eikrem (Molde), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Sam Mewis (Manchester City), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Roma), Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) He has perfectly set the table for the third annual Gundogan Awards, and I thank him for it. THAT'S UNBELIEVABLE with an incredible volley for and it's the FASTER EVER #EmiratesFACup Final goal! /x95dNx9a8w He recorded three braces in his final seven matches and scored one of the most purely awesome goals you'll ever see in the opening seconds of the FA Cup final on June 3. Now, City have won their long-awaited Treble - Premier League title, FA Cup title, Champions League title - and they did so with Gundogan again doing increasingly impressive things. But his surge was one of the defining periods of a season that featured a domestic double and finished a single goal shy of City's long-sought treble. Gundogan would score three more goals in March and once in May as City's more customary scorers got healthy and found their form. Manchester City was in another one of its midseason, "Pep Guardiola homes in on the recipe that will win him another Premier League title" periods, and suddenly Ilkay Gundogan had gone from "ultra-steady midfielder" to "best goal scorer on the planet." From mid-December to mid-February, the 30-year-old scored 11 goals in 15 matches, and in those 15 matches, City dropped all of two points and took total charge of the league race. Yet we settled on the "Gundogan Awards" - and expanded it beyond England's top division - in honor of a player who was going to a particularly unique place. There were plenty of worthy names out there.īack in the 2020-21 season, we wanted to celebrate a group of Premier League players who were defying age to some degree - players nearing the end of (or having already zoomed far past) their respective primes, but still accumulating skills and finding new heights to which they could raise their game. They could have been named the Juan Cuadrado Awards, or the Fran Kirby All-Stars.
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