Ever since Jose Maria Gimenez arrived at Atletico Madrid, he was on the verge of becoming one of the best in the world at his position. The Uruguayan centre-back has achieved that early, but has struggled with injuries for a number of years to be at his best.
Until this season. For the first time in six years, Gimenez did not miss a game due to injury between August and December. Speaking after Atletico Madrid's victory over Slovan Bratislava, Gimenez explained that there were two key elements behind it, although he was a bit cheeky about one thing.
“Especially in your head you are enjoying yourself more calmly, I train what I need to train, I eat more barbecue, it does me good (laughs). We experience a situation where we play every 60 hours and in the Champions League it's f***ed, no matter how fit you are, how well fed you are, things (injuries) happen, 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 best defense in La Liga, having conceded just 11 goals in 16 games so far, and the 29-year-old defender's consistent presence is one of the main reasons for that improvement.
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