Injury Report: Atlanta United vs. NYCFC

It’s been an eventful week when it comes to the injury status of Atlanta United players. Tata Martino spoke with reporters Friday morning and announced who is active and unavailable for Sunday’s match against NYCFC. Let’s recap.

Ezequiel Barco: The most expensive signing in MLS history featured in training for the first time this season after returning from a quad injury he picked up in the preseason. Although he was held out of practice on Wednesday, that was planned ahead of time by the club and was strictly precautionary. Martino says Barco will be available on Sunday.

Franco Escobar: Good news for the defender. Escobar suffered a concussion in the final minutes against Vancouver on March 17, but he made his first training appearance today. However, Martino says he is still going through recovery and is not available against NYCFC.

Mitch Hildebrandt: The keeper suffered a knee injury the week of March 8. Martino says he is still 1-2 weeks away from returning to training.

Josef Martinez: It looked really bad for Martinez after he went down in training on Wednesday with an apparent arm injury. However, the prolific striker trained the rest of the week with what appeared to be a small cast. Martino deemed Martinez fit for Sunday’s match.

Tito Villalba: After asking to be subbed off in the 59th minute with an apparent leg injury during last weekend’s match against LAFC, Villalba has not trained at all this week. However, Martino lists him as a game-time decision for this weekend.