Thomas Partey can always be relied upon

While the 1-1 draw with Qarabag was very disappointing and potentially disastrous to Atletico Madrid's Champions League campaign, it did nonetheless show that Thomas Partey can always be relied upon.

Partey is the only player who has scored in all competitions for the club this term; he netted against Las Palmas in LaLiga, Elche in the Copa del Rey and now the Azerbaijani side in Europe.

Few could have envisaged it at the beginning of the year, especially with rivals like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sadio Mane, yet the 24-year-old has emerged as a serious candidate for the African Player of the Year award.

For the moment though, the midfielder's goal remains to help guide Los Colchoneros into the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Scoring has been a major problem for Diego Simeone's charges this season and Antoine Griezmann has only netted three times, whilst Angel Correa is the club's leading scorer with four.

The fact that Partey is level with Griezmann on goals scored, whilst positive reading for the Ghanaian, is a dismal indictment of how Los Rojiblancos have struggled in front of goal this term.

Having scored three already this term, the midfielder has now equalled his best ever goal haul in Spain which came in the 2015/16 season.

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