“Little Prince” Antoine Griezmann has an extra motivation in Wednesday’s Europa League final between his team Atletico Madrid and Marseille in Lyon, as the local lad now returns home as European football royalty.
Griezmann was born in the town of Macon, an hour’s drive north of the regional capital, and grew up dreaming of becoming a star at his local Ligue 1 team. But youth-team chiefs at Lyon apparently decided the youngster was too small to make it as a professional, leading him to leave home for Real Sociedad aged just 13.
Fourteen years later, Marca has marked the neat coincidence on its front page ahead of Wednesday’s final. The headline “The Little Prince playing at home” along with a cute childhood picture of the Atletico forward is a reference to the much-loved classic story by author Antoine de Saint-Exupery (coincidentally also born in Lyon).
— J. I. Gallardo (@JIGallardo) May 15, 2018
Griezmann and Atletico will now be hoping there is no unexpected nasty twist at the end of their particular fairytale.
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan
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