- French forward Antoine Griezmann is surprised at missing out on the Ballon d'Or on Monday night
- Griezmann who claimed both the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and the summer World Cup with France in 2018 finished third
- Luka Modric emerged the first Croatian to win the prestigious award with Cristiano Ronaldo claiming second spot
France and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has expressed disappointment after missing out of Ballon d'Or top spot with his third place finish on the night claims sportskeeda.com report.
The Frenchman claimed both the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and the summer World Cup with France in 2018.
However, Griezmann ended up in the third spot after Cristiano Ronaldo in second, while Luka Modric became the first Croatian to win the prestigious award.
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The French forward was left frustrated after he was overlooked in favour of Ronaldo and Modric as he was looking forward to claim the top individual award.
"When I found out you didn't have to be at home with me the first two days," Griezmann joked.
"No, it's a great pride to be on the podium, to be a world champion.
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"I'm counting on my team-mates in the club and the national team to be in Luka's place in the future.
"I won a Europa League, a World Cup, what else do I have to do? I do not know."
In a related development, Kylian Mbappe could only finish fourth in the Ballon'd'Or voting, after claiming the inaugural Kopa Trophy.
Reacting moments after picking up his award, the Paris Saint-Germain youngster pledged he will continue working hard going forward
"A disappointment? Well, from where I come, it's no problem," he said.
"In a short time I arrived at the seventh [in 2017] and fourth place, the three players before me more deserved it more than I.
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"I have to work to be in this place in the future,” Mbappe summed up.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously had reported that Paris Saint-Germain's World Cup-winning forward Kylian Mbappe emerged the inaugural winner of the Kopa Trophy on Monday, December 3, after seeing off the trio of Christian Pulisic and Roma winger Kluivert at the award night.
The newly-created Ballon d'Or equivalent for U-21 players saw the 19-year-old emerge the first winner after helping PSG win the Ligue 1 title in his first season at the club, before scoring four times for France as Les Bleus won the World Cup for a second time at Russia.
Fellow Ligue 1 player Houssem Aouar of Lyon, as well as Serie A starlets Gianluigi Donnarumma and Patrick Cutrone were all nominated for the award.
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