Stomach bug hospitalises Atletico star

ATLETICO Madrid striker Adrian Lopez – who played for 67 minutes in their 1-0 win over Celtic on Wednesday – has been hospitalised for treatment of a stomach bug.

The club announced that the Spain under-21 striker, who has seven goals in all competitions, did not train yesterday as he tried to recover from gastric flu. Arda Turan, who scored the only goal at Celtic Park, also missed training due to an unspecified muscular problem, leaving the club with selection problems ahead of their game against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

But midfielder Diego paid tribute to Celtic by insisting they are the strongest team Atletico have faced in the Europa League.

After the defeat, Celtic must now go to Italy and defeat Udinese if they are to join the Madrid side in qualifying for the next round. However, Brazilian playmaker Diego gave Neil Lennon’s side plenty of encouragement after the game.

He said: “We played against a very strong team at home. It was a difficult place to play and the weather was awful, but we made it. That should give everyone at the club a lot of confidence because it wasn’t easy to win in Glasgow. Celtic are a good team and they were the most physical side we have faced yet.”

Team-mate Gabi agreed. He said: “We had chances to make it 2-0 and even 3-0, but we never took them. Playing in conditions like that and with a passionate crowd, it was difficult to win the game. We had to concentrate for the whole game because Celtic were very dangerous, especially on the counter-attack. it was a real team effort from us to hold on and get the win.”