Qatar 2022: Trippier says Griezmann can hurt England

England defender Kieran Trippier used to enjoy barbecues round at Antoine Griezmann’s place. It was almost a routine.

Atletico Madrid training finished by 11.30am before it got too hot: head home, dip in the pool, and then gather with some of Diego Simeone’s other players for a meal together.

Sometimes it was chez Antoine, sometimes at Trippier’s villa.

Trippier has fond memories of those days on the elegant La Finca estate north of Madrid, and especially of Griezmann, the anglophone Frenchman who helped “Tripps” find his way in Spain but now stands in England’s way.

So much of the focus on Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final has been on Kylian Mbappé, slightly overlooking Griezmann’s substantial presence.

He has 42 goals in 114 internationals, and was man of the match in the 2018 World Cup final, partnering Olivier Giroud in attack. His role in this tournament has been more withdrawn, scheming, but no less forceful.

He has played in France’s previous 72 games and last missed a match five years ago when England visited Stade de France for a friendly, coincidentally Trippier’s debut.

Trippier moved to Atletico in 2019, and played four times against Griezmann, who had just left for Barcelona before returning to Atletico on loan.

“I was lucky to play with him,” Trippier, who is now at Newcastle United, says. “You see his talent throughout his career and when you play with him you see his individual talent. He’s one of those who, even in training, is clever where he picks up space. He just drifts and is certainly a player to keep an eye on.

 “He has the individual quality to find a pass, score a goal and arrive in the box. Griezy is a fantastic player, one we have to be aware of.

“As well as being a great team-mate on the pitch, he’s a great guy. He’s the joker of the dressing room. He’s one of those bubbly guys — from morning until evening he’s always playing jokes, doing pranks. Great character. We got on really well. I have huge respect for him. As a player abroad, you find it hard at times and Griezy certainly helped me. His English is good. He helped me with the language and was really important to me.

 “We lived in the same area and spent a lot of time together off the pitch. It was like a big family.”

Many of the players had villas in La Finca. “It’s like St George’s Park but bigger,” Trippier says. “It was brilliant as we’d finish training at 11.30am, the sun’s shining and you’re having barbecues.”

Chez Antoine scored highly on Trippadvisor. “What more can you ask for? The good thing is that every player would host and that closeness came from the manager. We’d go round each other’s houses as it was literally ten seconds away.

“I hosted. It was important for me to show the support and make them all aware I was making the effort to mix. We last spoke probably a couple of months back, on Instagram, and wished each other well. I have huge respect for Griezy but I hope Saturday is a good day for us.”

Whether Trippier starts is a moot point unless Gareth Southgate reverts to his old cautious self and goes with a back three. He has huge attacking options to pick from and the widespread hope is that Southgate persists with 4-3-3. Remarkably for this stage of a World Cup, none of Southgate’s players has yet picked up a booking.

From Nobby Stiles getting a retrospective yellow card from Fifa for a filthy challenge on France’s Jacques Simon in 1966 (and warned that another offence would end his tournament) to Paul Gascoigne’s tearful caution at Italia ’90, and the reds for David Beckham at France ’98 and Wayne Rooney at the 2006 tournament in Germany, England have been wary of indiscipline. So the fact they have played six hours of football without a booking is testament to their self-control.

 “We’re a really disciplined team,” Trippier says. “We’ve spoken about not wanting to miss a game, picking up stupid yellows for throwing the ball away. You might need to take a tactical foul and you can’t help that.”

If the players have matured, it was put to Trippier, does the same go for Southgate’s decision-making? The England manager was outwitted in their previous World Cup in the semi-final.

“Like the Croatia one, it is always difficult in that moment, certainly as a manager he always thinks what’s best for the team, and he certainly did then,” Trippier says, swiftly indicating changes Southgate made this time against Wales, notably swapping Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford on the flanks to such good effect. “It shows signs of a good manager. He just did a tactical switch and we scored.”

Trippier, 32, one of the senior players in the dressing room, emphasises that the squad remains fully behind Southgate and wants him to continue. “Of course,” he says. “Gareth has a contract for two more years. We all love Gareth. He is a fantastic manager. We are 100 per cent behind Gareth, 100 per cent. We’ve got a great chemistry as a team. That comes from the staff, who make it feel like we are at home.”

After Southgate holds his final team meeting on Saturday , the players will head to the dressing room at the Al Bayt Stadium. “Everyone’s relaxed, everyone’s having banter, some play two-touch, some do stretching, some just chill and get a massage,” Trippier says, “and we listen to some horrific songs from some of the lads!” Whose is worst? “It’s [Jordan] Pickford.” The keeper is into rave music. “That’s why it’s horrific. Honestly, Pickford has the worst taste in music!”

In fairness to Pickford, his choice is more eclectic than simply rave. He sang The Courteeners’ Not Nineteen Forever as his initiation at Sunderland and his playlist contains John Legend, Elvis, Sam Fender, Arctic Monkeys, The Cranberries and Bastille.

England’s relaxed buzz extended to Robbie Williams visiting their Al Wakrah base to entertain them. “He didn’t do Let Me Entertain You,” Trippier says, laughing. “He played Angels. It’s the first time I’ve ever met him. I’ve got say he’s a great guy, really humble. Everyone’s buzzing to hear him sing.” Did all the younger lads know who he was? “Jude [Bellingham] is 19 so he makes me feel old. I’m sure Jude knew who he was.”

England’s upbeat mood has been lifted by news of Raheem Sterling returning and by the sight of Declan Rice back in training yesterday after feeling unwell. “He was in high spirits as he always is and he trained well today,” Trippier adds.

“We know we’ve got a tough task ahead of us. You look all over the France team and they have quality everywhere. But we’ll be ready. We’ll give everything as always. We shouldn’t be ashamed to say we want to win the World Cup. Hopefully, we will do everybody proud against France.” His old mate “Griezy” will not make it easy.-THE TIMES