Antoine Griezmann still harbours hopes of beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to this year's Ballon d'Or, according to the scout who discovered him.
The Atletico Madrid forward has enjoyed a stellar 12 months, helping both Atletico Madrid and France reach the finals of major tournaments.
Though the 25-year-old lost both finals in agonising circumstances, he was in prolific form at Euro 2016 and won both the golden boot and player of the tournament award.
Eric Olhats, who spotted the Frenchman's talent when he was only 14 years old, says his man has not given up hope of beating Ronaldo and Messi to the prestigious individual award.
He told French newspaper L'Equipe: 'I said on RMC, "we will not have it, it will not be for us this year. It will be Ronaldo," but this phrase was taken out of context.
'I said that while explaining that Ronaldo would have if it was essentially based on the best of the year.Â
'Antoine would hope that European journalists vote with a reasoning that goes beyond that establishing a ranking of players on the mere basis of their annual list.
'Fortunately, there are other criteria that come into play, such as individual performance.
'From there, we think he obviously has a chance. The Griezmann clan has certainly not given up.'
Messi holds the award after inspiring Barcelona to the Treble in 2015, with Brazilian Kaka the last footballer to win the prize instead of the Argentine or Ronaldo. Mail Online
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