Diego Simeone is hopeful Jan Oblak’s shoulder injury is not too serious in the wake of Atletico Madrid’s shock 3-0 defeat to Villarreal.
Oblak, 23, was forced off after 41 minutes into Atletico’s second defeat in six days after committing an error that directly led to Jonathan dos Santos’ goal, which doubled Villarreal’s lead.
The Slovenia international was replaced by Miguel Angel Moya and is now a major doubt to fulfil Atletico’s two remaining matches before the international break, which sees Simeone’s side host Las Palmas in La Liga before ending the year at home to Guijuelo in the cup.
“The worst thing is [the injury to] Oblak,” Football Espana quote Simeone as saying after the game. “Hopefully it’s not so serious, but his injury upset us.
“The second half was not easy because we were 2-0 down and the injury to Oblak, but the team tried everything that they could to reduce the score.
“I go with the feeling that the team fought, worked and looked for the best chance to win, but the results are not encouraging us.
“We have to work because it is the only way to improve. We accept the criticism, because when a team loses games you need to improve.”
Atletico have now suffered back-to-back defeats for the second time in the last two months, which is uncharacteristic of Simeone’s tenure, as they slipped down to sixth and 12 points behind league leaders Real Madrid following Monday’s defeat.
In the last three La Liga seasons no goalkeeper has kept more clean sheets than Oblak (38).
For more stats on Jan Oblak, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
