Atletico duo pick up injuries to put Arsenal starts in doubt | OneFootball

Atletico Madrid’s Ademola Lookman and Alexander Sorloth have picked up injuries, but the pair appear to be in line to make their comebacks against Arsenal next week.

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Marca reported on Monday that Ademola Lookman and Alexander Sorloth have both picked up injuries, and that they’re set to miss Atletico Madrid’s next two fixtures against Elche and Athletic Club.

The news obviously raised concerns that the Atletico forwards wouldn’t be fit for the team’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Arsenal on April 29th, and Marca reported that they were both “major doubts”.

Lookman is expected to be out for a week at minimum, but it could be longer, whilst Sorloth is currently aiming to be back for the Champions League game.

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Mundo Deportivo report that the pair are being wrapped in cotton wool to be available for the Arsenal match, with Atletico confirming that they’ll train away from the rest of the senior squad.

“Ade­mola Look­man and Alex­an­der Sor­loth fin­ished the Copa del Rey final with dis­com­fort,” Atletico confirmed.

“The club’s med­ical ser­vices have car­ried out tests that advise the utmost cau­tion to avoid the risk of injury, so they will fol­low an indi­vidu­al­ised plan in the com­ing days, work­ing out­side the group.”

“The evol­u­tion of these (injury) concerns will determine their return to train­ing with their team­mates.”

Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images

Lookman has scored 10 goals and assisted six in all competitions this season, though he spent the first half of the campaign with Atalanta in Serie A. With Atletico, he has seven goals and four assists in 18 matches.

As for Sorloth, he’s only been second to Julian Alvarez as Atletico’s primary goal threat, scoring 17 goals to Alvarez’s 19. He scored in the quarter-final first leg against Barcelona after coming off the bench.

Arsenal’s hopes of a first-leg result would be significantly boosted by the two absences, but it seems both are currently in line to make their returns in time.