Oblak back as Simeone plans to shuffle his pack for Celta Vigo

With a trip to Moscow on the horizon, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone could rotate his squad on Sunday.

Published : Mar 10, 2018 19:41 IST

Diego Simeone has confirmed Jan Oblak is fit to face Celta Vigo on Sunday as Atletico Madrid look to stay on Barcelona's coattails in LaLiga.

The Slovenia goalkeeper missed the midweek Europa League win over Lokomotiv Moscow due to a hand injury.

Axel Werner started in his absence, keeping a clean sheet on his Atletico debut as the hosts cruised to a 3-0 win in the first leg of the last-16 tie.

However, after coming through a training session on Saturday, Oblak has been included in Simone's squad for the league fixture at the Wanda Metropolitano.

"He's fine and he will available for the game, luckily everything is fine," Atleti's manager told the media.

"I'm not a doctor but for what our doctor told me he's fine, he had a little pain in the hand and in the buttock but he's fine now.

"He trained with the goalkeeper coach this morning, he asked to work today to get confident and be ready to play tomorrow, when he finished he told me he was fine to play so he will play tomorrow."

Atleti were dealt a potentially fatal blow in the title race last week as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to leaders Barca, leaving them eight points adrift with just 11 games to play.

With a trip to Russia for the second leg with Lokomotiv Moscow to come on Thursday, Simeone is looking into ways to shuffle his pack in order to keep his players fresh.

"We always try to look for the best players to win each game," he added.

"We want to find the best way to refresh every part of our team during the games, without losing our style that define us, but yes we always look for fresh legs to be more effective."

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