Atletico Madrids Cristian Romero ruled out of Barcelona clash with muscle injury

Atletico Madrid will be without defender Cristian Romero for Sunday’s crucial La Liga meeting with Barcelona after a muscle injury also ruled him out of Argentina’s upcoming international fixtures.

The centre-back’s absence is a significant setback for Diego Simeone, with Atletico potentially able to move top of the Spanish league standings if they beat Hansi Flick’s side. Romero will also miss Argentina’s friendly matches against Uruguay and Costa Rica on 13 and 17 November.

According to Marca, Romero’s injury prevented him from featuring in Atletico’s matches against Bayern Munich on Tuesday and Levante last Saturday. He had trained during the week and was expected to start against the Valencia-based side, but the problem forced Simeone to remove him from consideration.

His unavailability was confirmed only hours after Barcelona announced that Rodri, their current midfielder and former Atletico player, would also miss the highly anticipated league fixture. Rodri suffered his injury during Barcelona’s match against Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Romero setback adds to Atletico’s defensive concerns

Romero’s absence represents a major loss for Atletico given the influence he has had since joining the club. He has quickly become one of the leaders of the team’s new project, despite making only eight appearances so far – six in La Liga and two in the Champions League.

The Argentina international had been a long-standing target for Atletico’s coaching staff before his move to the club. Since arriving at the Metropolitano, he has demonstrated his importance to the side, with that impact particularly evident during his absence against Bayern Munich.

Romero’s latest problem is understood to be a recurrence of a muscle injury sustained during Atletico’s match against Espanyol. He asked to be substituted during that game, and Marca subsequently reported that he would require about 10 days to recover.

The defender returned to action after that period but has now suffered a further setback, leaving Simeone without one of his key defensive options for the meeting with Barcelona and Argentina without their captain for the two November friendlies.