Atletico Madrid Star Insists Forwards Must Step Up After Poor Performance Against Qarabag

Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann has admitted that the team's forwards, himself included, need to do more in front of goal following a poor display against Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Frenchman is currently on a personal mini-drought of three games without a goal, and his dry spell seems to be affecting the rest of the team; Atletico have now produced four stalemates in their last five matches.

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Griezmann is a talismanic figure for los Cholconeros, and it would appear that he is shouldering some heavy goalscoring responsibility at present.

The disappointed star said after the game, as quoted by Football Espana: "It’s not an awful result, it wasn’t certain that we’d win. They were strong and we didn’t score. We have to improve and score more goals, that’s it.

"We knew it was going to be complicated as they retreated a fair bit. We had chances, but we didn’t take them. We have to work as forwards.

"We’re good at the back and we’re creating chances, but we’re not taking them. It’s down to us, the forwards, who have to put them away.

"Worse in the second half? We didn’t have any clear-cut chances towards the end and it’s costing us. We have to find a way to improve. We have to find solutions among ourselves.

"We have [three] games left. We’re going to give our all, trying to win them all, and then we’ll see what happens."

The 0-0 draw in Azerbaijan leaves Diego Simeone's men third in Group C, and they have work to do if they are to progress through to the last 16.