Why Julián Alvarez was taken off early during Atlético vs Barcelona | OneFootball

An insight into the reasoning behind Julián Alvarez’s surprise early withdrawal during Atlético Madrid’s latest outing has been provided.

Frontman Alvarez, for his part, featured from the off on Sunday night, as Atlético played host to Barcelona in a crunch La Liga clash.

En route to an eventual 4-2 defeat for the Rojiblancos, the Argentine opened the scoring, courtesy of a typically composed first-half finish.

Amid what has been a stellar recent stretch of form on Alvarez’s part, it therefore came as a major surprise when, just shy of the hour mark, the former Manchester City man was hauled off.

Speaking to the media post-match, the subject of as much was therefore put to none other than Diego Simeone.

And Atléti’s headmaster went on to reveal that Alvarez was actually a doubt to feature at all in the clash, owing to a bout of illness:

“Julián Alvarez was not going to play. He had been feeling sick, but he told me he was ready.”

Conor Laird – GSFN