This post has already been read 3270 times!
Kevin Gameiro comes into the Atletico Madrid starting line-up for Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, first leg against Bayer Leverkusen after coming off the bench to score a hat-trick at the weekend.
The Frenchman played less than half an hour away to Sporting Gijon on Saturday but he scored the second-fastest hat-trick in La Liga history, three goals in five minutes securing a 4-1 win.
Gameiro replaces Fernando Torres up front while Jose Gimenez and Saul Niguez also come into the side but goalkeeper Jan Oblak has not made the starting line-up despite beginning training again after a long spell on the sidelines through injury.
For the hosts, 17-year-old talent Kai Havertz lines up alongside the more experienced Javier Hernandez up front.
Charles Aranguiz replaces Lars Bender in midfield, the Leverkusen captain having picked up a muscle injury against Augsburg last weekend. Ömer Toprak replaces Tin Jedvaj in defence.
Starting line-ups for the UEFA Champions League round of 16, first leg between Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, on Tuesday (kick-off 1945 GMT):
Bayer Leverkusen (4-4-2): Bernd Leno; Benjamin Henrichs, Aleksandar Dragovic, Ömer Toprak (c), Wendell; Karim Bellarabi, Charles Aranguiz, Kevin Kampl, Julian Brandt; Javier Hernandez, Kai Havertz
Coach: Roger Schmidt (GER)
Atletico Madrid (4-4-2): Miguel Angel Moya; Sime Vrsaljko, Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Filipe Luis; Koke, Gabi (c), Saul Niguez, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco; Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro
Coach: Diego Simeone (ARG)
Referee: William Collum (SCO)
AFP
The post Champions League: Gameiro starts for Atletico in Leverkusen appeared first on Punch Newspapers.
Source: Punch News