Atletico Madrid facing mini-crisis with injuries and suspensions

The 2-1 defeat at the hands of Barcelona on Saturday afternoon has become more about the collateral damage than just three points. Atletico will be missing Augusto Fernandez, Diego Godin (injury) and Filipe Luis (suspension) for the next number of games as fans and management await the severity of injury and suspension handed down.

The club released a statement on Fernandez, their most recent signing, that said, "Augusto suffered a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee."

Another statement on Diego Godin read, "Diego Godin has undergone radiological tests on Sunday, which confirmed the injury to his left knee. The Uruguay international suffered a sprain (Grade I) on the internal lateral ligament in his left knee.''

Augusto is expected to miss up to two months and there is no timetable for Godin's return but both losses will have significant ramifications.

Given the fallout from Filipe Luis' tackle on Messi and the nature of the tackle, we are expecting a pretty hefty suspension for the Brazilian. While we don't agree with Christian Vieiri's assessment that he should be banned for 10 weeks, he might get something closer to three.

Atletico have just sold Guilherme Siqueira to Valencia and only have Jesus Gamez to replace the left-back. Stefan Savic has been very good this season, but he has never played alongside Jose Gimenez and it is truly an untested centre-back pairing.

Matias Kranevitter should get the call now to slot in for Augusto Fernandez but that is provided Simeone sticks with a 4-4-2 although he has had little or no luck with Luciano Vietto and Jackson Martinez up front. Yannick Ferreira Carrasco was exceptional against Barcelona and Oli Torres might be considered on the right with Griezmann as the sole striker if things don't change for the two summer signings.