Three Atletico Madrid stars ruled out vs Arsenal but two return as squad revealed

Diego Simeone has been handed a big Atletico Madrid injury boost with his matchday squad confirmed for the Champions League clash against Arsenal

Atletico Madrid have confirmed that both Ademola Lookman and David Hancko are part of their squad to face Arsenal in the Champions League. The duo have been nursing minor injuries in recent weeks but have been passed fit to feature.

There is no place for any of Pablo Barrios, Jose Gimenez or Nico Gonzalez in the 23-man squad confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, though. The latter was set to be involved but picked up an injury in Atletico's final session.

Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth have also been named with the two attackers overcoming recent issues in a big boost for Diego Simeone.

Both forwards were included in Atletico's La Liga squad for the 3-2 win over Athletic Club this past weekend. Sorloth played the full 90 minutes and scored twice while Alvarez was an unused substitute.

Lookman missed out entirely because of an issue suffered earlier this month in the Copa del Rey final but was back in training on Tuesday. It seems unlikely that he will start the first leg given Simeone's update on Tuesday.

He said: “We'll see if he recovers well tomorrow, because he was still feeling some discomfort today. So we'll see if he can help us tomorrow or not.”

Hancko was involved in some light sessions last week after not playing since the quarter-final first leg against Barcelona.

Mikel Arteta has also been handed some injury boosts with Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori set to be involved. The latter was also last involved in Arsenal's quarter-final first leg while Eze was forced off as a precaution against Newcastle United this past weekend.

Kai Havertz had been taken off in the first half of that clash and will miss the trip to the Spanish capital with Jurrien Timber also remaining absent, as confirmed by Arteta.

Bukayo Saka returned to the fold last weekend after a four-week injury lay-off. Despite only playing nine minutes, Arteta was very pleased with what he saw.

He said: "I think he has some very good impact as well in the minutes that he's played. He's back, I think he looks sharp, he looks good, he looks fresh.

"You certainly notice something different in the team, in the stadium as well, when he comes in, so we certainly need that."