La Liga giants Atlético Madrid have been left to sweat over the wellbeing of four members of the club’s first-team squad, ahead of their upcoming showdown with Liverpool.
Atléti of course marked their return to action on Saturday, locking horns with Villarreal in a La Liga clash.
And when all was said and done, the Rojiblancos emerged on the right side of a 2-0 result, to secure their first three points of the new season.
As alluded to above, however, en route to as much, a number of fitness concerns were noted.
Julián Alvarez was the first forced off, lasting only until half-time.
Summer signings Nico González and Dávid Hancko, meanwhile, also left the field of play gingerly.
And the most concerning development of all came upon Robin Le Normand going to ground and subsequently limping off with what appeared to be a muscular complaint.
It now remains to be seen if the Atlético quartet are given the medical green light to feature in the club’s European season opener against Liverpool this week.
Conor Laird – GSFN
