Atletico Madrid have arrived in England ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Liverpool at Anfield.
Diego Simeone has named a strong 24-man squad, including Julian Alvarez, who returned as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 defeat at Athletic Club.
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Alexander Sorloth is injured, while Arnau Ortiz is suspended. Atletico have concerns up front, with Sorloth absent, Jonathan David yet to feature since joining on loan from Juventus, and Julian Alvarez not ready to start after making just two substitute appearances.
Simeone will hope his side can bounce back from their weekend defeat and avoid another loss at Anfield, having suffered a 3-2 defeat there last season.
The 56-year-old told a pre-match press conference on Tuesday: “Jonathan has only just arrived, Julian is getting better. I don’t see he could start tomorrow, but I am sure he could help at some point in the game.”
Atletico Madrid left Anfield empty-handed last season but have enjoyed success on Merseyside in recent years. In 2020, Simeone’s side knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League with a 3-2 extra-time win at Anfield, securing a 4-2 aggregate victory after winning the first leg 1-0 in Madrid.
Simeone will hope for a repeat result on Wednesday against a Liverpool side that beat Ipswich 2-0 on Friday to give new boss Andoni Iraola his first win.
Simeone said: “I don’t think it has been motivation what happened to us in Bilbao, it was a lack of awareness, switching off.
“We are coming into a marvellous stadium, a great atmosphere, we have to look at the start of the game as it will be full on.”
He added: “For the club it is very important that the final is played in the Metropolitano. For us we have to work a great deal if we can begin to hope to be in that privileged position.
“We are in a construction phase, getting used to our surroundings: we have new players coming in, the issue with Alavrez, the arrival of (Jonathan) David at the end of the transfer window – and it all takes time. Bit by bit we are starting to find ourselves and we can start to show our best in the games coming up.”
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