Antoine Griezmann sets sights on Michel Platini’s record European Championship haul
Atletico Madrid star leads the golden boot race after his double inspired hosts France into Euro 2016 final
ANTOINE GRIEZMANN took the lead in the Euro 2016 golden boot race and immediately set his sights on France legend Michel Platini.
The striker scored his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament as the hosts dumped world champions Germany out in the semi-finals.
And Griezmann, 25, is now out to reach Platini's mark of nine European Championships strikes, which Cristiano Ronaldo reached yesterday.
He said: "It's a whole group effort. It's thanks to the group we're in the final and we're going to make the most of tonight.
"I missed my penalty in the Champions League final and I really wanted to make sure I put it in the back of the net tonight.
"I'm still very far off Michel Platini and hopefully one day I can get closer to that."
Griezmann missed a penalty for Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final against Real but kept his nerve this time against Manuel Neuer.
He added: “I really wanted to take a penalty in another important match. I'm pleased to have taken the decision and to have scored.
“We’re like kids, there’s a whole country behind us and we have to give 100 per cent for them. Now we have to win the final.
“We're very happy. We can start dreaming on July 10. We have to keep our feet on the ground up to then. We'll enjoy tonight, then start recovery and preparations for the final tomorrow. But we're delighted.
"It was great with the fans before and after the game, a fantastic experience, and we hope to live that again in the final.”
Griezmann’s sister Maud was in the Bataclan theatre during last November’s terror attacks.
She gave a chilling interview this week recalling the horror.
But Griezmann insisted French president Francois Hollande’s pre-tournament visit to the squad re-assured Les Bleus amid concerns the Uefa extravaganza would be a terrorist target.
He added: “It did not affect us. Just before the Romania match the president came to talk to us about the security measures in and around the stadia. We were pretty calm.
"It was our duty to win the matches, to try and entertain the French people and try and go all the way in this tournament. That's what we needed to do, representing France.
"I hope we can continue now in the final.”
Boss Didier Deschamps’ France ended a 58-year jinx against Germany in tournament knock-out stages. They had lost in the 1982, 1986 World Cup semis and two years ago in the quarters.
Arsenal ace Olivier Giroud said: “It’s an emotional night. We will savour this and then focus on the game in three days’ time. It was a key moment to score the goal.
"The penalty changed the game as Germany had created chances in the first half. Griezmann took responsibility of striking the pen and he scored and in the second half he was in the right place at the right time.
"He’s grown as the tournament wore on. I’m delighted for him. He’s giving us that bit extra.”
“I’d really like to write a chapter in history. Everyone really wants to achieve something great on Sunday
"We want all the French to turn up and we hope it’s going to be a great ending for us. We can’t stop now.”
Germany boss Joachim Low said: “Too many things went wrong. We were the better team. We have invested a lot and had good body language full of power. It was unfortunate that we conceded a goal, it was bad luck. The ball touched the hand and we conceded a pen a minute before half time.
“We had chances regrettably we didn’t score. But in 2012 or 2010 when we went out the sides were better than us. Today that wasn’t the case. We were better than the French but we didn’t score.”
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Low, who has a contract till 2018, refused to clarify whether he will carry on as Germany boss.
He added: "I won't think about that tonight. I can't predict what will happen. I can't even predict what will happen tomorrow. I'm still disappointed and I won't think about that tonight. We haven't decided what we would do if we lost. We'll talk about it on the flight home."
Manuel Neuer failed to claim Paul Pogba's pass in the build-up to Griezmann's second goal.
But he had no chance with France's first as the striker calmly slotted home a penalty following Bastian Schweinsteiger's handball.
And the Bayern Munich stopper feels the result was harsh on his side, who dominated possession for large periods.
He said: "It is a semi-final, there are no worse moments than losing these games. I don't want to say that we were the better side but 2-0 was not a fair result.
"Of course the penalty was crucial but we had a whole half to equalise. We had chances but couldn't take them. France took their chances.
"It would have been a catastrophe to play badly here but it's been a good tournament for us."
