Atletico Madrid have dropped a significant hint on the fitness of Julian Alvarez ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal.
The previous Manchester City striker’s penalty ensured the tie is evenly poised ahead of Tuesday night’s showdown with the rating locked at 1-1.
Alvarez, who has been heavily linked with a move to the north London club in the summertime, was taken off with 13 minutes remaining of last week’s game and played no part in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Valencia.
It appears, nonetheless, that the Argentina international has made a full recovery after he was named within the squad that may travel to London this afternoon.
Diego Simeone will hold his pre-match press conference later this evening and is probably going to substantiate his star forward, who has 21 goals in all competitions this season, shall be fit to play.
Atletico will, meanwhile, meet an Arsenal side buoyed by their dominant 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday.
The Gunners, who’ve struggled for goals in recent weeks, were back to somewhere near their fluent best with Bukayo Saka starring during a gap 45 minute burst.
Viktor Gyokeres also got on the scoresheet twice while Myles Lewis-Skelly impressed in his preferred midfield role.
Mikel Arteta will make a late call on the involvement of Martin Odegaard and it stays to be seen whether or not Jurrien Timber shall be a part of the matchday squad.
Either way, Arteta was hugely encouraged by his side’s fluency against a Fulham side who’ve proven to be tricky opponents previously and hopes Arsenal will carry that confidence into their remaining games.
‘I’m very blissful with the team performance, and the person performances inside that performance,’ said Arteta.
‘We knew how difficult it was going to be, especially getting back from Madrid so late on Thursday afternoon and the energy that we spent in that game, and understanding that you just don’t need to discuss it if you’ve got an enormous game in a couple of days here.
‘But we talked about hunger and about having the power to focus and be so determined on what we needed to do.
‘We had some fresh legs from a couple of players. You can notice that big time because the person performance increased after which the team flowed another way.
‘The moment that we did that, I feel we engaged the supporters and when that happens and also you create the atmosphere that you just saw on the Emirates, we make it very, very difficult for the opponent.’
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