Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone says striker Mario Mandzukic has been carrying an ankle injury for the last 10 games.
The Croatian will be unavailable for Tuesday’s game against Real Sociedad and Simeone has revealed that the player came to see him in order to explain the problem.
“Mario knocked on my door and came in with a translator because I obviously don’t speak his language,” the Argentine told Marca.
“He told me that his ankle was bad and he wasn’t in condition to give his all for the team and wants to recover in the best possible way.
“To be honest I’m glad he told me and we’ll now have to wait for him to return, but I’m very happy with him.
“He’s had the problem for the last 10 games and against Bayer Leverkusen he played with it for 88 minutes and showed great commitment.”
Simeone says he is looking forward to competing with Sevilla and Valencia for a Champions League spot.
“It’s going to be good because we’ve all got tough games coming up and will need to play every one as if it was our last.
“It’s the only way we are going to get the necessary points to finish third because you can never write off the top teams,” he concluded.
