Like Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann arrived in Barcelona with high expectations. The former fell short and is marked for offloading by the Catalans in the upcoming transfer window. Griezmann is yet to deliver as anticipated and he could suffer the same fate but Lionel Messi can choose to step in and give the Frenchman a hand.
To be clear, Griezmann is not doing bad at all starring for Camp Nou. Since jumping from Atletico Madrid last summer, the World Cup winner played in 39 matches and scored 14 goals. But using the gauge of Barcelona, he is not doing great as well.
The benchmark has to be what Barca saw when Griezmann dominated with Atletico last season. According to Rivaldo, he sees a man brimming with confidence playing for his old club. The same cannot be seen in Barcelona because Griezmann didn't have the same opportunity with his current team and it's taking a hit on the player's game.
If the trend continues, it's not remote that the former Atletico star will follow the same downward path of Coutinho. The latter is practically on a limbo now with Barcelona evidently bent on shipping him out.
However, Griezmann can still reverse the course he seems to be taking now with a little help from Barcelona's team captain. Rivaldo said Messi can give his beleaguered teammate a boost by allowing him to score at a given opportunity.
"Messi could ... let Griezmann take penalties when Barcelona are winning comfortably," Goal reported the Barcelona legend as saying.
He noted that the Argentine superstar was generous enough to do such favor with Luis Suarez in the past so doing the same with the Frenchman should not be hard.
The France international started for the Spanish giants in the last two matches but was unable to find the net on both occasions. Rivaldo said the lack of opportunity is hobbling Griezmann's game and Messi could do something to pull him out of the woods.
Despite not registering a goal, Barca boss Quique Setien said the forward did a "commendable job" so far, adding the player's contribution is important to the club.
In Barcelona's last game against Leganes, Griezmann started as the center-forward with Ansu Fati and Messi flanking him. Quique explained the position assigned to the Frenchman is known to be crowded and an opening is hard to find.
"It's not easy to play on the inside ... When so many people are around, you have to do very well to find the space," the Barca manager told Marca.
Rivaldo said his old club is far from its best form but the mentality right now is to win as many games as possible and keep the lead in the La Liga table, which should prove a key advantage as the competition advances.
