Diego Simeone called Julian Alvarez "one of the best in the world" despite the Atletico Madrid player not being nominated for FIFA's The Best award.

The forward scored 17 goals and provided four assists in LaLiga last season, while also directly contributing to eight goals in 10 Champions League matches (seven goals, one assist).

Despite his contributions to Atleti's attack, it was not enough for Alvarez to earn a spot on the 11-player shortlist for The Best award.

Simeone, however, paid no attention to that, rather praising Alvarez's quality and choosing to focus on Atleti's upcoming clash against Levante instead.

"I'm not the one who makes those decisions, for us, he's a very important player, one of the best in the world," said Simeone.

"We have him and we have to take care of him. I hope he continues to give us what he is giving us.

"With a lot of respect, I focus on Levante, they work well defensively, they have fast people from midfield moving forward. 

"We have to take the game to where we can hurt them. I can't imagine another game that is not like the ones they have played against us as visitors before."

Levante are currently 16th in LaLiga, 12 places behind Atletico, after winning just nine points from their opening 11 matches.

They have failed to win any of their last three matches in Spanish top flight, but they did progress to the third round of the Copa del Rey with a win over Orihuela.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Atletico Madrid – Giuliano Simeone

Giuliano Simeone has been in fine form for Atletico of late, grabbing an assist during their 3-1 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League on Tuesday. 

The Argentine has also provided four goal assists in his last six LaLiga matches, as many as in his previous 30 matches in the top flight, and he will be keen to make an impact again here. 

Levante – Etta Eyong

Eyong has been involved in six of Levante's last 11 goals in LaLiga (five goals and one assist), scoring the last two away from home.

The last player to score three consecutive goals for the Granota side away from home in the competition was Jose Luis Morales in October 2021 (four in a row).

MATCH PREDICTION: ATLETICO MADRID

While favoured by the Opta pre-match simulations, Atletico have not won any of their last four matches against Levante in LaLiga (D2 L2), after winning five of their previous six against this weekend's opponents (D1), their longest winless streak against them in the top flight.

Indeed, at home, Atletico have lost their last two LaLiga matches against Levante – only against Barcelona (three in a row on two occasions) have the red and white team lost three or more consecutive home games in the competition with Simeone as coach.

Atletico have, however, won their last three LaLiga matches without conceding a goal and have not won four or more consecutive matches without conceding in the competition since December 2020 (W4).

They have also scored in each of their 11 LaLiga matches in 2025-26 (21 goals), and could score in their first 12 matches in the same season of the competition for the first time since 1982-83 under Luis Aragones (first 12, 22 goals).

Levante, meanwhile, have picked up points in each of their last four away games in LaLiga (W2 D2), and they last went five or more consecutive away games without defeat in the competition in December 2018 (W2 D3).

But they have conceded 13 goals in the second half of LaLiga matches this season, the highest figure along with Girona and Valencia (also 13), and they are the team that has scored the lowest percentage of their goals in the last quarter of an hour of matches (7% - 1/15).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Atletico Madrid – 73.7%

Draw – 15.5%

Levante – 10.8%