<
>

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in Antoine Griezmann's sights

Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann wants to solidify his status as one of La Liga's top scorers and dismissed rumours he is unhappy at the club.

Griezmann, 24, finished with 22 league goals in 37 appearances in 2014-15 to help the Rojiblancos clinch third place and a spot in the Champions League group stage.

He ended as the third leading scorer in La Liga behind Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 48 goals, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi, with 43.

"I don't know the number [of goals], but I do want to score more than 25 goals, a figure that I achieved last season [in all competitions for Atletico]," Griezmann told Spanish radio station Onda Cero.

"I work towards the aim of catching Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo."

Griezmann joined Atletico last summer in a €30 million transfer from Real Sociedad and the forward is under contract with the Madrid outfit until June 2020.

He has scored once and set up two more goals in Atletico's opening La Liga wins against Las Palmas and Sevilla.

Reflecting on the club's summer transfer business, that saw them bring in players including Jackson Martinez, Filipe Luis, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Stefan Savic and Luciano Vietto, Griezmann said: "The club has made a great effort to make good signings.

"With the new players, we will do great things but we cannot forget that we must work in every game. It's normal that the fans want us to be champions again.

"Last season we had 10 new payers, it was difficult to repeat the success of the previous campaign [Atletico won La Liga in 2013-14] but we had a good year and finished third.

"Now we want to improve and do more. We don't feel any pressure but we know the team we have. Everyone wants titles but the first thing we must think about is winning game after game."

Griezmann denied reports this summer that he was unsettled at Atletico.

"I read that people thought I would leave this summer but I'm very happy here and if the club wants me to continue, I will be delighted to do so," he said. "The Calderon [stadium] is like the garden of my house.

"I feel right at home. I feel the support and we always go out ready to give everything."

Atletico host defending champions Barcelona in La Liga on Sept. 12 and they begin their Champions League campaign away to Galatasaray three days later.