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February 23, 2017

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Gameiro’s the man as Atleti soars

KEVIN Gameiro was playing so well for Atletico Madrid that even a teammate tried to keep him from being substituted.

Gameiro helped Atletico to a convincing 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, and Antoine Griezmann looked in awe when he noticed the substitution board go up with Gameiro’s number on it.

Clearly surprised, he tried to stop coach Diego Simeone from replacing his teammate and French compatriot, signaling to the bench and voicing his discontentment.

“No, no,” Griezmann said from afar, looking incredulous and disappointed. “He is the best (in the game), he is the best.”

Griezmann failed to convince Simeone and Gameiro had to leave — making way for midfielder Thomas Partey — but the French striker had already stayed on the field long enough to put in one of his best performances since arriving in Madrid this season. He scored a goal and set up another in the first leg of the last 16 in Germany, making another strong case to establish himself as the team’s starter over Fernando Torres.

The 29-year-old Gameiro was coming off another outstanding performance in which he scored three goals in five minutes to help fourth-place Atletico defeat Sporting Gijon 4-1 in the Spanish league on Saturday. The team next hosts Barcelona on Sunday.

“I was a little upset (with the substitution) because when you are playing well you want to stay until the end,” Gameiro, who came to Atletico from Sevilla last year, told Spanish media. “But the most important thing is that the team got the victory.”




 

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