Diego Simeone is confident that Atletico Madrid can cope without Antoine Griezmann in Sunday's crunch Liga clash with Valencia.
Griezmann is the Spanish champions' top scorer this season, with 14 goals in La Liga, but the France international will miss the trip to Mestalla through suspension.
Simeone will thus have to rejig his attack, with Fernando Torres, Mario Mandzukic and Raul Garcia all vying for a starting berth.
"We are a team that is able to compensate for the absence of key players," the Atletico coach told reporters. "But we are still evaluating who to play up front.
"We could play with many different pairings: Torres and Mandzukic, Raul and Torres, or Mandzukic and Raul."
While Simeone feels that Atleti have sufficient attacking talent to deal with Griezmann's absence, the Argentine freely admits that fourth-placed Valencia represent a formidable foe.
"They are a very competitive team," the former midfielder ace added. "We said all along that Valencia would challenge us.
"They have players of great vision in midfield. Javi Fuego gives them great balance and they have two wide players who are effectively forwards.
"All of their players sacrifice themselves for the team defensively. That is why they are coming into this game in good form, having won four straight games.
"Our goal is to go game by game and hopefully continue doing well. The aim of the club is to finish third or fourth."
Valencia currently sit just a point behind Atletico in the Primera Division standings, with Sevilla four points further back in fifth.
Source: Goal.com
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