Arsenal and Atletico Madrid will face each other in the Champions League semi-final first leg next week, but both teams have a number of injury concerns ahead of the game.
Diego Simeone will join Atletico Madrid against Arsenal (Image: Getty Images)
Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone has kept quiet about the fact that star player Pablo Barrios has escaped serious injury ahead of next week’s match against Arsenal. The Spanish side welcome the Premier League leaders to the Metropolitano on Wednesday for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
Barrios, 22, was absent as Atleti beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, but Simeone confirmed he will undergo further tests to determine if he has a long-term problem.
“I haven’t seen him yet. The doctors will let us know what injuries he may have. Life often makes things difficult for us, but they’ve been working with him this year regarding injuries.”
“He has to take this as a learning curve, with the strength and willingness to learn from what is happening to him. He has to be strong and work hard.”
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“Before the game I told him that I have a lot of faith in him. He is very important for us and we are waiting for him. We hope that the injury is as small as possible and that he can be with us until the end of the season.”
Barrios has made 35 appearances for Atletico Madrid this season, scoring one goal. He played the full 90 minutes in the Spanish team’s 4-0 defeat against Arsenal in the league stage of the Champions League earlier this season.
While there are concerns about Simeone, there are also concerns about his opposite number Mikel Arteta. Three of Arsenal’s star players came on as substitutes in the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Newcastle at the weekend.
Barrios was sent off at the weekend against Athletic Bilbao (Image: Getty Images)
Kai Havertz, Ebelesi Eze and Martin Zvimendi are all absent and Arteta gave an update on the trio following the win over Newcastle.
“(Eberechi) Eze is a big player for us and is in a really good time. He had some great moments scoring goals. Hopefully he gets fit and can be with us on Wednesday.”
“Zvi (Martin Zvimendi) was not feeling well and at half-time he wasn’t feeling well. He gave his all. He had a really good game. In the end we had to take him off.”
Asked if he had spoken to Havertz, the Arsenal manager added: “No, I haven’t, but he looked a bit snickering so I don’t know how serious it is. The way he acted and the way he explained things was not too sharp so it didn’t seem like it was that big of a problem, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
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