Atletico Madrid captain Gabi: 'Europa League is a piece of s***'

Atletico Madrid captain Gabi has confessed that his side are desperate to avoid dropping into the Europa League as it "is a piece of shit".

The Spanish side are on the brink of exiting the Champions League at the group stage after twice being held by Qarabag FK in the space of two weeks.

Atleti trail second-placed Chelsea by four points and Group C leaders Roma by five, with games against the two sides above them left still to come.

Despite the consolation prize of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League by finishing third - a competition Los Rojiblancos won in 2010 and 2012 - Gabi is far from excited by the prospect of competing in UEFA's secondary competition.

"Today I would say [the Europa League] is a piece of s***," he told reporters. "But the Europa League has given me a lot, and if we have to play it, we will [play to] win it.

"I think that now the chances of [qualifying] are very remote. We are disappointed, we have to be self-critical because we have not been able to win any of the two matches at Qarabag."

Gabi, under a long-term contract at the Wanda Metropolitano, has featured in three of Atletico's four Champions League games to date in 2017-18.