By Tim Stannard

Atletico looks to change Griezmann’s muddled mind

If Antoine Griezmann is a little off form in Thursday’s clash between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, then it will because the footballer is in full wibbly-wobbly flashback montage mode.

The footballer is now in the ‘Iniesta-zone’ in the sense that the French forward has made a decision on when he is going to make a decision on his career and will soon further the narrative by making a decision on when he will be making announcement about the aforementioned decision.

La Real will certainly trigger memories of the past with the attacker having begun his career in San Sebastian before moving to Atletico in 2014. It looked like Griezmann was going to leave the Rojiblancos last summer, but a transfer ban on his club tugged at his heartstrings and he decided to stay, all be it with a very tempting $120 million buy-out clause, a price tag that is attracting the big beasts including Barcelona and Manchester United.

Then again, a strong finish to the season and some squad strengthening could persuade Griezmann to stay put and avoid being tactically bored to death by Ernesto Valverde or Jose Mourinho.

That strong finish could be galvanized on Thursday if Griezmann can lead Atletico to a win against Real Sociedad and give the capital city side a six-point lead over Real Madrid, who seem entirely disinterested by the concept of league football these days. “I hope we can make him see that the team will continue to grow,” said Diego Simeone ahead of the game.

That game is live on beIN SPORTS at 1:30PM ET / 10:30AM PT followed by Betis boss, Quique Setien, potentially all but sealing the relegation of his old club, Las Palmas. That gets underway at 3:25PM ET / 12:25AM PT with the relegation battle between Levante and Malaga on beIN SPORTS CONNECT at the same time.

Burnley look to overtake Arsenal in EPL fight-night

The Premier League is still in clean-up mode on Thursday with two league fixtures.

Southampton are mired in the relegation zone, five points off safety with five games to go. That’s why a win away at Leicester City is a must. Incredibly, Burnley can move above Arsenal into sixth spot – all be it with a match in hand – with a win over Chelsea. And that is entirely possible these days judging the state of Antonio Conte’s given-up-the-ghost outfit.

And speaking of Chelsea, the London club were dealt a bit of a blow on Thursday with the news that Marcos Alonso will miss the weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton due to serving a three-match ban for violent conduct against Southampton in Saturday’s league match.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the best of the action round the grounds.

Real Madrid to keep Kroos control as Unai denies Real Sociedad switch

TRANSFER TRACKER TIME!

Toni Kroos may not be the midfield marshal for Manchester United next summer, one of the strong rumors doing the rounds, instead in could be Napoli’s Jorginho, whose club are back in the Serie A title race after a Juventus slip-up on Wednesday.

Lyon have made a hopeful bid to take back Man Utd’s Anthony Martial on loan - good luck with that one - while Tottenham are fishing for PSG left-back, Layvin Kurzawa. And speaking of PSG, Unai Emery has used the medium of Twitter – the language of Shakespeare – to deny rumors that he was set to take over at Real Sociedad this summer, once he had been bundled out of PSG for the crime of failing to win the Champions League.

NBA world unites after passing of Erin Popovich

Very sad news from the NBA world on Wednesday night, with the announcement that Erin Popovich, the wife of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg, had died.

The pair had been married for 40 years with two children and two grandchildren. NBA stars were quick to express sympathy to one of the most popular figures in the game with LeBron James offering his condolences courtside after the Cavs victory over the Indiana Pacers.

The Spurs are due to face the Golden State Warriors on Thursday in game three of their play-off series with the Warriors two up.

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