Griezmann delivers amid Payet tears

The images of Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet shining each other's boots were some of the abiding ones of France's brilliant but ultimately unsuccessful run to the final of Euro 2016.

But their experiences of Wednesday's Europa League final at a cacophonous Groupama Stadium could hardly have been more contrasting.

Marseille and Payet had started brightly, with the captain and Florian Thauvin to the fore as they pressured Atletico in the early going.

But pressure is something Diego Simeone's Atletico relish. They soak it up and wait for you to make a mistake, and when you do, it is usually Griezmann who is there to pounce.

The man to provide it? There is no need to ask.

Just four minutes into the second half and Griezmann turned the hill a Marseille team missing their best player had to climb into Mount Everest.

A slick throughball from Koke and Griezmann was in to loft the ball over Mandanda with the ease of a forward who knew he was superior to everybody else on the pitch. No hesitation, and no hope of Marseille resurrecting a chance of earning direct qualification into the Champions League group stages.

The football gods demonstrated it was not to be their night as a Kostas Mitroglou header bounced off the inside of the post and out before veteran Gabi had the final say after another assist from Koke.

The amount of rumours of an impending departure that will likely intensify due to Griezmann's man-of-the-match performance could well compare with the number of flares brought to proceedings by the Marseille faithful, and his performance will naturally thrill Deschamps ahead of a tournament where France are among the favourites.

But for France, Payet is the creative fulcrum who is good enough in front of goal to take attention away from Griezmann, they are an accomplished tandem, and Les Bleus are a much more dangerous proposition with both of them on the field.

It remains to be seen how severe Payet's injury is. But the prospect of him travelling to Russia while not fully fit is not an enticing one for Deschamps. 

Griezmann, as he showed in Lyon, has a knack for celebration but, for France to have the best chance possible of replicating their triumph of 1998, he needs to be doing so alongside Payet.