Atlético Madrid will host Girona FC in LALIGA on Sunday evening in what will be Antoine Griezmann’s last-ever home game for the club.
El Principito will have the chance to say goodbye to the crowd at the Estadio Metropolitano after what will be his 464th game for Atleti (20-6-10, 66 points).
Griezmann will be looking to add to his 14 goals in all competitions this season — an impressive tally considering the minimal expectation of minutes before the campaign began. He hasn’t netted since the 3-2 win
at home to Athletic Club at the end of April, so he will want to end his home Atleti career on a high. After all, he did score in his first match at the Metropolitano, so it would only be right for him to do so in his last too.
He’ll have to help his team overcome a Girona side (9-13-14, 40 points) who are desperate to stay up in what is the most incredible of relegation battles LALIGA has ever seen. Michel’s side currently sit in 15th place, but are just a singular point above 19th. Remarkably, a win could take them as high as 11th, as with two matches to go only six points separate eighth place from 19th.
Looking at Girona’s form, they’re on track to end up in the bottom three as all sides around them have managed to win more recently, with no victories in six matches looking to be an ominous sign of things to come. Former Atleti defender Axel Witsel and current loanee Thomas Lemar are expected to feature.
The Catalans will be hoping to follow the likes of fellow survival hopefuls Sevilla and Elche, who managed to pick up wins against Atlético in recent weeks. However, this time Los Rojiblancos don’t have any continental distractions in the near distance, meaning all focus will be on delivering a fun performance for the crowd to enjoy and trying to get Griezmann on the scoresheet.
A win would put Atleti into third if Villarreal lose their match away to Rayo Vallecano. Even if the Yellow Submarine do win, a victory over Girona will still have Atleti within at least three points of them, setting up a final day showdown between the two clubs.
Team news
The unavailable list keeps growing for Atleti, with many players still nursing injuries that they hope to recover from before the World Cup gets underway in a month’s time.
Starting at the back, José María Giménez and Nahuel Molina are out due to their ankle injuries. In the center of midfield, Johnny Cardoso, Pablo Barrios and Rodrigo Mendoza are all still injured (Cardoso having undergone surgery in the past few days), while Marcos Llorente is suspended following his red card last week away at Osasuna.
On the wings, Nico Gonzalez is ruled out as well, with compatriot Julián Álvarez also sidelined. Giuliano Simeone though has returned to the squad after a two-game absence.
All of this means that we can expect either Javi Boñar to come in at right-back for some more valuable minutes for the “club of his life” or Marc Pubill to follow on from his MVP performance last weekend in the position. That would lead to Robin Le Normand lining up alongside Dávid Hancko at the back, with Matteo Ruggeri continuing at left-back.
A midfield partnership of Koke and Álex Baena is expected to re-emerge, with Thiago Almada and Ademola Lookman to their sides. Up front, Alexander Sørloth will have the honour of leading the line with Antoine Griezmann for his final home match in Atleti colours.
Predicted XI Oblak; Pubill, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri; Koke, Baena, Almada, Lookman; Griezmann, Sørloth.
