Partey flourishes in Atletico Madrid narrow loss

Promising Ghanaian youngster Thomas Partey came off the Atletico Madrid bench to steer the midfield in their 2-1 away defeat against Barcelona in Tuesday night's Uefa Champions League.

The 22-year-old climbed out of the dug-out in the 76th minute to replace striker Antoine Griezmann and he shored up the midfield and eased off the pressure from the visitors.

Fernando Torres struck the opening goal for the Vicente Calderon giants but Uruguayan Luis Suarez equalised from a close range tab-in before powering home a strong header in the 74th minute to claim victory for the Catalans from the first-leg.

Partey earned his place in the Atleti squad for the game after excelling in the weekend 5-1 hammering of Real Betis in the La Liga.

Diego Simeone handed the former Tema Youth midfielder his first playing minutes in the competition and he showed class with his performance on the night, leaving many with questions as to how Ghana coach Avram Grant keep skipping the midfielder for his Black Stars squad.