Antoine Griezmann finally in sync with Lionel Messi as he returns to Atletico Madrid with Barcelona

It looked like a turning point. Antoine Griezmann longs for it be. It was his first Champions League goal for his new club, for the Barcelona who bought him to win European Cups. More than that, a superb goal, scored from the left flank, the position he is learning, and set up by Lionel Messi, the leader he is learning to play alongside. The celebration last Wednesday after Griezmann put Barcelona 3-0 up against Borussia Dortmund spoke of their complicity, too, all smiles, bear hugs and joy at the purity of their work, Griezmann’s intuitive run and precise, angled finish, from the slide-rule pass from his captain that meant Griezmann barely broke stride. A perfect connection, then, and a timely answer to sceptics who had begun to wonder if the Spanish champions' €120 million (Dh486m) summer recruit was destined to follow in the bumpy line of stellar talents who have found Camp Nou in the Messi era just the wrong sort of theatre, men like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexis Sanchez, Philippe Coutinho. This Sunday, Griezmann, 28, confronts the severest judgement on his summer switch, his first trip back to the Atletico Madrid he exited, without their blessing and amid rancour, in July. The reception will be ferocious. Over most of his five years growing from up-and-coming livewire winger to world-class striker, Griezmann was loved at Atletico, and he returned the affection with bashful gratitude. To leave as he did, Barcelona exploiting a release clause he had negotiated downwards with the move in mind, turned him suddenly into a traitor. To understand the venom that will be pointed at Griezmann at the Wanda Metropolitano, you need to rewind 18 months, and the release, just before the 2018 World Cup, of his expensively-shot documentary-style film, The Decision . Griezmann commissioned it, he was the star and his career-dilemma the storyline. It took half an hour - largely devoted to depicting his earnest, down-to-earth character - to reach its punchline, which was a genuine revelation: He had decided to stay with Atletico, and say no to Barcelona, who had been pursuing him for many months. It was certainly not the punchline anticipated by the Barcelona player Gerard Pique when his production company, Kosmos, had first agreed to help make the film. Over the subsequent year, Griezmann changed his mind. The Decision now looks a poorer and poorer decision the more Griezmann looks back on it. It was self-indulgent, an arthouse extravagance where a tweet or a press conference would have sufficed to announce his commitment to a fifth season at Atletico. First casualty, then: The image of Griezmann as a star without the trappings of stardom. The film was also disingenuous. Griezmann's extended contract with Atletico in 2018 contained a clause that lowered his buyout fee from €200m to €120m in July 2019: His "loyalty" had a built-in escape chute. The Decision angered Barcelona. Viewed from Camp Nou, it looked like rejection turned into entertainment, and mildly embarrassing for Pique, although the Barca defender and part-time entrepreneur is not easily embarrassed. Atletico, meanwhile, were double snubbed, achieving a huge fee for the release of the player but a lower one than they might have yielded in 2018. And they felt diminished by their leading player effectively spelling out that, in his mind, Atletico had become a less potent partner for his ambitions in the space of the few months between The Decision and what would best be entitled The Prevarication. In 2018 Atletico had finished second in La Liga to Barcelona by 14 points; in 2019, Atletico were runners-up to Barca with a 11-point gap. And a third of the way through 2019/20? The deficit between Atletico and Barcelona as they square up in Madrid is a tight three points. So far this season, there is more evidence that Griezmann’s departure has made his old club less effective than that his arrival at Barca has elevated the champions to a higher plane. That, Griezmann admitted, had dented his confidence. "I knew it would be hard, and I am still getting used to the movements of Messi and Luis Suarez,” he said, acknowledging he has sometimes looked an awkward outsider alongside that celebrated duo. But the goal against Dortmund suggested a page had turned. It seemed almost scripted to arm him for tonight. Griezmann had come off the bench, early, thanks to injury to Ousmane Dembele. He had 40 minutes to get into his rhythm, ready himself to read Messi’s intentions with the sort of telepathy he worried had been lacking. The goal broke a scoring drought that had lasted almost six weeks. It would be to exaggerate to say Griezmann goes back to Atleti in buoyant form, but he will feel fortified.

Antoine Griezmann finally in sync with Lionel Messi as he returns to Atletico Madrid with Barcelona

Atletico still bitter about the circumstances surrounding French striker's move to Camp Nou over the summer