Costa not ruled out of ECL final

Atletico Madrid's boss says there is still a good chance that injured players Diego Costa and Arda Turan can improve their fitness before the ECL final.

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone says he will give Diego Costa and Arda Turan every chance to prove their fitness ahead of the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

Both players were forced off with injuries inside the first 25 minutes as Atletico claimed their first La Liga title in 18 years with a 1-1 draw away to Barcelona at the weekend.

Spanish media reported on Monday that Costa will miss the final after suffering the recurrence of a hamstring problem, whilst Turan has a hip injury.

"There are still a few days to go and we are not going to jump the gun because I think it is too early for such an important game, but we need the players to be in the right condition," Simeone said on Monday.

"We will wait to see how Costa and Arda recover until the end of the week and we will look for alternatives if they don't recover."

Atletico go into the game full of confidence having ended Real and Barcelona's 10-year domination of La Liga and having lost just twice in 10 meetings against the two this season.

However, Simeone played down the influence winning the league could have in Lisbon.

"Winning is always good, but you have to move on straight away. We need to be 100 per cent concentrated and I am sure the players will respond as they have always done in the biggest games."

Victory on Saturday would deliver the fifth trophy of a glorious two-and-a-half year spell since Simeone took over in December 2011.

Both sides are likely to be weakened as Real also have doubts over the fitness of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.


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Source: AAP


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