Atletico Madrid have suffered a late injury blow ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg with Arsenal, with Nicolas Gonzalez ruled out due to a muscle injury.
The Argentinan suffered the injury during Tuesday’s fixture ahead of the clash at the Metropolitano, the club confirmed on Wednesday.
Gonzalez, who joined from Juventus on an initial loan deal in September, has scored five goals for Atletico this season, all of which have come in LaLiga.
Atletico are aiming to reach their first Champions League since 2016. They have progressed to that stage three times, but have never lifted the prestigious trophy.
Should Atletico progress to the final, they will face either holders Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich, who played out a classic in their first leg on Tuesday, with PSG winning 5-4. A meeting with Bayern would be a rematch of the 1974 final, which Bayern won 4-0 after a replay.
Atletico and Arsenal have faced each other three times in their history. The Rojiblancos beat Arsenal 1-0 in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final in 2018 en route to winning the tournament. Arsenal defeated Atletico 4-0 in the league phase of this year’s Champions League.
