Simeone provides an update on Suarez amid fitness woes

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone gave an update on Luis Suarez’s fitness ahead of their Champions League match against RB Salzburg.

Suarez trained away from the Atletico squad ahead of Tuesday’s Group A meeting with Salzburg in the Spanish capital.

Although the 33-year-old still made Simeone’s 23-man team despite this turn of events. Not much has been said on his exact condition, but ‘Cholo’ is hopeful his striker could start at the Wanda Metropolitano.

“He’ll be in the squad,” Simeone confirmed to reporters in a pre-match conference on Monday, as quoted by Marca.

“We agreed with the doctor that it was best for him to work away from the group [on Monday] and then, according to what we see tomorrow, he’ll [either] start or be on the bench.”

Suarez has managed an impressive four goals and an assist in his opening five LaLiga games for Atletico since his summer arrival from Barcelona.

The former Blaugrana star, who was on target in the club’s 2-0 win over Real Betis last weekend, also became the second quickest player in LaLiga history to score 150 goals earlier this month – behind only Cristiano Ronaldo.

Asked if Suarez’s strong start has taken him by surprise, Simeone replied: “Surprised, no.

“I’ve found a player who I listened to on the phone when we first made contact in that first chat to see if there was a chance he could join us.

“He wanted to be here, and he’s proving it. Let’s hope we can help him.”