Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa and new signing Luis Suarez can form a deadly partnership this season says coach Diego Simeone. Costa scored Atletico's first goal in the 6-1 thrashing of Granada on Sunday before making way for Suarez, who marked his debut since switching from Barcelona with an incredible return of two goals and an assist in the space of 20 minutes. “Of course they can play together. The important thing is that they play to the best of their abilities, Diego with his character, Suarez with his leadership,” Simeone told a news conference ahead of Atletico's game at Huesca on Wednesday. “They are different players. Diego likes to play down the wings and run into space, while Suarez is better at short sprints, making diagonal runs into the area, playing with his back to goal and being a dangerous presence in the area.” Simeone, however, would not give any hints as to how his team would look against Huesca. “Costa and Suarez might start together or they may play together at some point during the game or play separately,” he said. While Suarez has been one of the most prolific forwards in Spain in the last six years, notching 198 goals in six years for Barca, Costa has struggled to return to the form which saw him help fire Atletico to the Spanish title in 2014. Since returning to Atletico from Chelsea in 2018, he has only managed 11 La Liga goals and his place looked to be under threat from the arrival of Suarez. But club president Enrique Cerezo has declared the Brazilian forward will stay this season, adding that the club have given up their pursuit of Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani. Simeone welcomed the news. “I was always taught to support the president whenever he spoke so I'm getting behind everything he said,” he added. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
