Diego Simeone has justified his rotation in Atletico Madrid's win against Alaves and has called on his squad to 'work together' in a big week for the club.

Los Rojiblancos had to work hard to claim a narrow 1-0 victory at the Mendizorrotza Stadium, getting the job done 12 minutes from time through a Kevin Gameiro penalty.

Atletico were without the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Saul Niguez and Jan Oblak on Sunday afternoon, with Simeone admitting that fatigue was a concern ahead of Thursday's return leg against Arsenal in the Europa League semi-finals.

"[It's an] exciting game," he told reporters. "Now we have to rest well and then to work and be all together on Thursday. We came from a big effort and some of my players were not in a position to play a game as hard as this one.

"The reality is they are footballers. We have several players that can occupy different positions. They allow you to do it."

Atletico are tied at 1-1 with Arsenal thanks to a late Griezmann goal at the Emirates Stadium last Thursday.