Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - September 29, 2024 Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger in action with Atletico Madrid's Robin Le Normand REUTERS/Juan Medina/ File Photo
(Reuters) - Atletico Madrid defender Robin Le Normand will be available to compete in Thursday's Copa del Ray second-round game at CP Cacereno after recovering from a brain injury, manager Diego Simeone said on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury following his collision with Real Madrid's Aurelien Tchouameni late in their 1-1 draw on Sept. 29 and needed medical attention on the pitch.
Le Normand has so far made eight appearances with Atletico since joining from Real Sociedad in the close season after winning the Euros with Spain.
"First of all, we were thinking about the health of the player. That's what the club, doctors, and physios focused on as a first step," Simeone told reporters.
"Then comes the player, who started to get in shape and is now ready to start competing from tomorrow. Seeing the enthusiasm that he transmits, he is very happy and eager to help the team."
Atletico, who are on a seven-match winning streak ahead of Thursday's game, are looking to extend their victorious run across all competitions but Simeone said the side needs to maintain consistency in the season.
"We have things to improve, the team grows from a block and I always call that block a team, neither offensive nor defensive," Simeone said.
"From there, we need that consistency, which is the most difficult thing to maintain during the season."
Simeone said the competition among players is helpful for Atletico as the side is focused on training to perform better as a team against Cacereno who has a good record playing at home.
"We have the motto 'wearing the Atletico shirt in every game is a great opportunity'. Many would like to be in our place and we need to have this embedded within," Simeone said.
"From there we will make a team to try to hurt a Cacereno that does very well at home and that will compete as it did against (Real) Madrid (last year)."
Further, Simeone said he is hopeful for forward Antoine Griezmann's return on Friday as he will be unavailable against Cacereno.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
