Atletico Madrid lose key midfielder ahead of Champions League deciders

Originally posted on Football Espana | By Ruairidh Barlow | Last updated 10/19/22

Atletico Madrid face two essential Champions League matches against Porto and Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks, which will decided whether they make it to the knockout stages or not. It looks as if they will be doing so without key midfielder Thomas Lemar.

While Lemar has struggled to hit the same form as he showed during their title-winning season, the Frenchman probably still finds himself in Diego Simeone’s strongest XI, especially without Koke Resurreccion. He has gone down with injury and will not return before November. The same is true of Marcos Llorente.

| JUST IN: Thomas Lemar will be out for approximately 2 weeks.

[: @MatteMoretto, @relevo]

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) October 19, 2022

Against Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday night, Lemar asked to be taken off due to muscle discomfort. Now Relevo report that Lemar will be out for two weeks.

It rules him out of those Champions League matches and two fixtures in La Liga against Real Betis and Cadiz. Without Koke, Simeone will be forced to call on Rodrigo de Paul and Geoffrey Kondogbia for more production.

This article first appeared on Football Espana and was syndicated with permission.

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