Atletico Madrid star reveals keys to leaving behind injuries – ‘Above all…’ | OneFootball

Ever since Jose Maria Gimenez arrived at Atletico Madrid, he was slated to be one of the best in the world at his position. The Uruguayan central defender achieved that early on, but for a number of years has been battling injuries to be at his best.

Until this season. For the first time in six years, Gimenez has not missed a game through injury through between August and December. Speaking after Atletico Madrid‘s victory over Slovan Bratislava, Gimenez explained that two key elements were behind it, although his tongue was slightly in cheek regarding one.

“Above all in the head, you are calmer enjoying yourself, I train what I have to train, I am eating more asado (barbecue), it is doing me good (laughs). We are experiencing a situation of playing every 60-odd hours and in the Champions League it is f***ed, no matter how in shape you are, how well fed you are, things (injuries) come, they are not a coincidence. Sometimes it’s a shame that they don’t think about the player when they need to,” he explained to Relevo.

His presence has been crucial to the renaissance of Diego Simeone’s defence. Atletico have the joint-best defence in La Liga with just 11 goals conceded so far in 16 games, and the 29-year-old defender’s consistent presence has been one of the major causes of that improvement.