Diego Simeone has assured the goals will come for Atletico Madrid and that Diego Costa is “very well mentally and in terms of morale.”
Atleti have scored more than two goals in just one of their eight games this season and drawn 0-0 twice, but training has been boosted by the involvement of Costa, who returned from Chelsea earlier in the week, although the striker cannot play until January.
“Lack of goals? These are situations that have happened as a result of how our games have panned out,” the Coach said at a Press conference for Saturday’s trip to Leganes in La Liga.
“Carrasco, Correa and Griezmann have scored, Vietto, Koke and Saul have had chances… It’s about having presence in the box.
“Diego Costa? He’s very well mentally and in terms of morale. Gameiro? He’s working like the rest of our strikers, under the same conditions and with the same enthusiasm.
“He got a few minutes against Sevilla and none against Chelsea no, but he’ll be called up for Leganes and has a chance of playing.
“Gabi? I’ve talked to him about everything I needed to. Filipe and Lucas out? We have options. There’s Sime [Vrsaljko], Juanfran…
“Morale? We went to Rome, Valencia, Bilbao, we hosted Sevilla… We put in great effort against them all.
“We lost to Chelsea because they were better than us, and it’s up to us to learn from our mistakes.
“Up next is Leganes, which will be a hard match against a team that are working well and with a Coach who reads games well.
“They’ve brought in players who give them stability. I see a team that are competing and work hard.
“We’ll see where we can hurt them, they’ve only conceded three goals.
“Elche in the Copa del Rey? The Copa is important, we’ve always respected it. It was the start of everything good that happened to us later.”
Leganes (probable): Cuellar; Zaldua, Mauro, Siovas, Diego Rico; Ruben, Brasanac; Eraso, Gabriel, Szymanowski; Beauvue
Injuries/suspensions: Munoz, Mantovani, Omar, Serantes
Atletico Madrid (probable): Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Vrsajlko; Koke, Gabi, Saul, Carrasco; Vietto, Griezmann
Injuries/suspensions: Augusto, Filipe, Lucas
Referee: Gil Manzano
Form guide: Leganes (W D L L W) Atleti (W W W D W)
Previous meeting: Atleti 2-0 Leganes
Venue: Butarque
Kick-off time: 19:45 BST/20:45 local time
