Atletico Madrid star ‘at 50-50 to face Barcelona’ amid injury battle

Diego Simeone needs to rally his Atletico Madrid team for their crunch weekend clash with Barcelona.

Los Rojiblancos saw their UEFA Champions League dream ended in controversial style in midweek via a penalty shootout loss to Real Madrid.

Despite the ongoing fallout over Julian Alvarez’s ‘double touch’ penalty, Simeone has little choice but to drag his squad forward, to keep alive their domestic challenge.

Real Madrid head to Villarreal on Saturday, with Simeone hosting leaders Barcelona the following day, and the title gap could be four points before kick off in Madrid.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are currently tied on 57 points at the summit with Atletico Madrid one point behind in third spot.

However, a negative result against Hansi Flick’s team could see Simeone’s charges unravel, on the back of a draining battle against Carlo Ancelotti.

Simeone has tweaked the training plan ahead of facing Barcelona, to maximise rest, and his players will only have one full training session in between games.

Club captain Koke is battling to be fit in time to start and he may be needed amid concern over Rodrigo De Paul.

The Argentina international has been carrying a thigh problem in recent weeks and he has not completed 90 minutes in the last three games.

He was withdrawn just before extra time against Real Madrid as the issue became too much for him to carry on.

As per reports from Diario AS, Atletico Madrid are making every effort to keep him in the reckoning for Sunday, but his chances are rated at 50-50 .

Koke continues to train separately as part of his recovery, and neither player will be 100% fit, but Simeone’s preference is to risk De Paul and hold the former back.

His injury will be assessed next week ahead of a potential withdrawal from international duty with Argentina for their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier double header against Uruguay and Brazil.