Antoine Griezmann Blames Wife for Penalty Miss in France's 4-1 Win Over Albania (Sort of)

France forward Antoine Griezmann joked that his wife's absence was to blame for his penalty miss in Les Bleus' 4-1 thrashing of Albania in the Euro 2020 qualifiers on Saturday. 

The French side were already 2-0 up when Mërgim Mavraj fouled Lucas Hernandez in the box in the 35th minute. Griezmann stepped up to take the penalty, but his attempt ricocheted off the crossbar and back into play. 

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Speaking about the penalty miss after the game, Griezmann tried to shif the blame onto his spouse, as quoted by Goal,  "I don't know [what happened]. I don't know.

"As I said earlier, maybe it's because my wife didn't watch the game!

"I was on a good dynamic but we can't score every time. Too bad, I'll have to work on it."

Griezmann was pleased with the overall performance from his French side though, with Les Bleus topping the group difference and moving one step closer to qualifying for Euro 2020. 

"We were missing important players, whether on the field or in the locker room,

"The players who played in their place did it very well.

"We are on the right track and it shows that we are a group. We had a good game. We can only regret the goal we conceded at the end."

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Griezmann's appearance against Albania on Saturday was his first for the French national team since making a big-money move from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona back in July. He has enjoyed a good start to his Barça career, scoring two goals and making one assist in three appearances. 

He will have the opportunity to make up for his penalty miss when they face Andorra at the Stade de France on Tuesday.