Atlanta United Vs New York Red Bulls: 5 key players to watch – Injury issues
By Josh Bouland
3. Hector Villalba
Just like Larentowicz, Hector Villalba is also dealing with an injury. He did appear in both matches against NYCFC, but was pulled toward the end of the first match and only made a cameo appearance in the second.
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Assuming Villalba makes the game day eighteen, he will be another player to watch. Everyone will be watching to see what sort of impact Villalba can have on the game. Villalba hasn’t played meaningful, effective minutes in a match since October 6 against New England.
He missed the team’s penultimate regular season match through injury. He appeared against Toronto in the season finale but didn’t do much for the team in a 4-1 loss. He hardly affected any of the play in the conference semifinal.
Now it will be important to see if Villalba can leave his mark against Red Bulls in this extremely important first leg.