Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin has admitted that his side missed Arda Turan, Koke and Raul Garcia in Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo.
Turan and Koke have been two of Atletico's best players over the last 12 months, while Garcia's versatility has made him a vital cog in the Atletico machine.
All three were unavailable for Sunday's trip to Celta and Godin has conceded that the Spanish champions missed their presence.
"In the second half, we played better but the true is that we're going home sad. We were missing important players. They put in a massive effort and we have to congratulate them," Godin told Canal+.
"I think it would be too convenient of an excuse to talk about the players missing. because we've played games with rotations.
"We're a big squad and we're all ready to play, but we can't lie, the ones we missed are very important. It always hurts to lose, we never want to lose and we're coming away sad."
Atletico are now seven points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid.
Matt Law
