By Tim Stannard
Barcelona's French forward, Griezmann, admits to a bad start with Barca and a rocky road with Lionel Messi
When a teaser emerged that an in-depth interview with Antoine Griezmann was to be broadcast on Monday night in Spain it could have gone either way. Either an explosive confessional worthy of any Bravo TV show, or an attempt to smooth some choppy waters at the Camp Nou club.
In the end in ended up being somewhere in between - pretty much a summary of Griezmann's spell on the pitch at Barcelona so far. Not an unmitigated disaster, both hardly worth $130 million either.
The biggest pique of interest was the French forward letting loose on his relationship with Lionel Messi - thought to be a little frosty at the best of times. And the opening words of Griezmann on this topic suggest that the situation was even worse than thought.
"I spoke with Leo when I arrived," said Griezmann to former Real Madrid player, Jorge Valdano, and he told me that when I turned down the first chance to go [to Barcelona], he was screwed because he had asked for it publicly."
Oh dear.
"But he told me he was with me to the death and I notice it every day," added the former Atletico Madrid man quickly, who said that he made his very public 'Decision' video in 2018 - a half an hour middle finger to Barcelona - to explain the complexities of a decision to change clubs, rather than a ill-conceived, narcissistic exercise in self obsession.
Griezmann also admitted that he had not been at his best in his starting months with Barcelona and explained that "In a year and a half, I have had three coaches. That's not easy. I need time to adapt to my colleagues and they to me. And on top of that there are formation changes."
The Sports Burst live show at 12PM ET will look into whether Griezmann has helped himself at Barcelona...or made matters worse. Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page or beIN XTRA channel for your say.
PSG make second Champions League final of the year
The good news for PSG is that the club tends to do reasonably well in finals. The Ligue 1 club has won ten of them in the past four years alone.
According to Thomas Tuchel, PSG has another one coming up in the Champions League on Tuesday - making it two in 2020 in the competition for the club - with the German coach putting a much-needed dose of pressure on his sometimes somnambulant players by claiming that the home clash against RB Leipzig is a 'final'.
This alarm call comes with PSG having picked up just three points from three games in the group at the half way point. However, Group H in the Champions League this season is such a bizarro-world of weirdness that even a draw could be sufficient.
🔛⚽️ The preparation for #PSGRBL continues!
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) November 23, 2020
🔴🔵 #ICICESTPARIS pic.twitter.com/Hn6PL02c9d
Manchester United - the kings of all things bizarre these days - are top with six points and are capable of both beating PSG and losing to Istanbul Basaksehir in the same competition, RB Leipzig are in second place having both beaten PSG but shipped five goals to Manchester United.
With this unpredictability in mind, Thomas Tuchel is rolling the dice on Neymar on Tuesday in the Parc de Princes and using the striker from the start, despite the Brazilian only just coming back from a(nother) injury.
"We need him. He needs to be on the pitch for us," said a non molly-coddling Tuchel on Monday, "he has the quality and the experience."
Tuchel is also having to call on Kylian Mbappe to step it up too, not normally required for a footballer who has knocked in nine from seven appearances in the league this season. However, Mbappe is on a dry spell in the Champions League and without a goal in the competition in 2020, failing to score in 529 minutes across seven appearances.
Barcelona face 'don't really need to win' match in Kiev
Considering the absolute chaos and carnage surrounding Barcelona these days, Tuesday's Champions League action looks like an oasis of calm, despite Ronald Koeman's complaints to our Jamie Easton over the number of matches being played by footballers these days.
Unlike in LaLiga, where Barcelona are in a mid-table mire and sharing points with Osasuna, Barcelona have been flawless in the Champions League. Barca are one of just four teams with maximum points from three games. These leaves the Camp Nou club with an eight-point gap on third and an awful lot of wiggle room left with three games to go.
So, it's very much a good time to leave Lionel Messi and Frenkie de Jong back in Barcelona for a break, while the club also makes a decision on what to do with Gerard Pique's injury.
South American soccer gets serious on beIN SPORTS
The Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana are back on beIN SPORTS on Tuesday through Thursday and the competition has reached business time with the last 16 home and away knock out stages.
What's more, they get underway just minutes after the end of the Champions League games making it another great day to be in with beIN.
All 16 matches are available across the beIN SPORTS network including five for free, free, free on our beIN XTRA channel.
Tuesday's standout match sees reigning champions Flamengo at Racing of Argentina. However, it's very much a club in crisis with the Brazilian giants on their third coach of 2020. That game is live on beIN SPORTS from 7:20PM ET.
The other 2019 Copa Libertadores finalists, River Plate, are in action from 5:05PM ET on our beIN SPORTS Espanol channel at Athletico Paranaense in another all Brazilian-Argentinean affair.
