Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has handed Thomas Partey his first Champions League start for tonight's visit of Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

The Rojiblancos have gone with a three-man forward line for the second leg of their last-16 tie, sitting on a 4-2 lead from last month's reverse fixture in Germany.

Lucas Hernandez also comes into the starting lineup in place of the banned Filipe Luis, while Gabi is another player to miss out at the Vicente Calderon due to suspension.

Further forward, Fernando Torres is made to wait for his return to the starting ranks, taking a spot on the bench just two weeks on from suffering a nasty head injury in the league meeting with Deportivo La Coruna.

As far as the visitors are concerned, new boss Tayfun Korkut has named his expected XI, meaning that Roberto Hilbert makes a second appearance of the season as he fills in for the suspended Benjamin Henrichs, while Tin Jedvaj replaces Omer Toprak in the backline.

Bayer, who are still without skipper Lars Bender for their trip to the Spanish capital, have not progressed beyond this stage of the competition since 2001-02 when making it all the way to the final,

Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Vrsaljko, Godin, Gimenez, Lucas; Koke, Saul, Thomas; Carrasco, Correa, Griezmann
Subs: Moya, Savic, Juanfran, Gaitan, Cerci, Moreno, Torres

Bayer Leverkusen: Leno; Hilbert, Dragovic, Jedvaj, Wendell; Bellarabi, Baumgartlinger, Kampl, Brandt; Hernandez, Volland
Subs: Bailey, Mehmedi, Pohjanpalo, Aranguiz, Da Costa, Oezcan, Yurchenko

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