Former France international Frank Leboeuf has voiced his disagreement with Uefa’s decision to crown Antoine Griezmann the Euro 2016 player of the tournament.
According to Lebouf, the honour should have been bestowed upon Portugal defender Pepe, who produced a series of impressive performances during the tournament, including a Man of the Match performance in the final.
Griezmann topped the scoring charts with six goals in the tournament, but the Frenchman couldn’t find a way to beat Pepe as Portugal upset the hosts 1-0.
‘I like Griezmann a lot, but he was not the player of the tournament. I do not agree with this choice,’ Leboeuf said, reports Dreamteamfc.com.
‘We have to be critical. We only saw him from the quarter-finals on. He got two chances in the final, but he did not take them. We did not see too much of him otherwise.
‘But Uefa has always worked like this. They always give Man of the Match to the player who scored, too,’ he added.
Lebouf believes Pepe and Gareth Bale were more impressive than his countryman.
‘For me, there was someone like Pepe, you had Gareth Bale who led Wales the way. There were a number of players who showed a lot of quality.
‘Pepe was in great form right from the start until the very end. Griezmann on the other hand was dropped for the second game,’ he concluded.