Antoine Griezmann Names The 3 Premier League Title Contenders

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Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann believes this year’s Premier League will not yield the same fairytale story as Leicester City’s historic triumph, with the Frenchman predicting a battle between Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, as reported by 90min.

Griezmann, during an interview with Gazzetta World, said he expects Chelsea to be rejuvenated by the arrival of manager Antonio Conte and also tweeted his excitement when Paul Pogba returned to United.

“Last year nobody could have imagined that Leicester would win it but this time, I see it being a fight between City, United and Chelsea under Antonio Conte,” the 25-year-old said.

Griezmann also revealed that the pain of losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final was even greater than watching Portugal lift the Euro 2016 trophy in his native France.

Griezmann enjoyed an outstanding individual campaign for both club and country, scoring 32 goals in 54 games for Atletico before lighting up Euro 2016 and clinching the Golden Boot, but suffered tremendous heartache in losing two major finals in the space of six weeks.

The 25-year-old missed a penalty in the Champions League final and failed to replicate his stellar form in the Euro 2016 final as Portugal stunned the hosts to claim their first-ever major tournament triumph.

“I want to begin by saying that it was a very good year for me both personally and as part of the team, despite losing in two finals. I’m sure that both me and my teams will come back even stronger,” Griezmann said.

“That said, the most painful defeat was the one in the Champions League. It was a big blow because it came on penalties and getting to the final had been a long road. We had been trying since September… but we will return.”

When asked about who can win the Champions League this season, Griezmann focused on the usual suspects, saying that Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid are nearly guaranteed to reach at least the semi-final.

“Hopefully Atletico!” he added.

“We have great confidence in ourselves that we can repeat what we did last year but win the final this time. Then there are teams like Bayern, Barca and Madrid who are almost certain to get to the semi-final.”