Gil: Atletico not to sell Falcao this season

 Gil: Atletico not to sell Falcao this season

MADRID, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Atletico Madrid's Director General, Miguel Angel Gil has assured fans the club has no plans to sell top scorer Radamel Falcao until the end of the season.

Falcao had a magnificent first campaign for Atletico, scoring 24 goals in the BBVA Primera Liga as well as a decisive brace¹ which helped Atletico win the Europa League final against Athletic² Club Bilbao.

He has started this season in even more deadly form, netting eight league goals as well as a hat-trick as Atletico defeated Chelsea in the European Supercup. With Europe's biggest club's clearly interested in the striker, who has a 60 million Euro buyout clause, the temptation for Atletico must be to see him in January in order to help clear the club's massive debts, but with Atletico currently joint³ top of the league alongside FC Barcelona and eight points clear of Real Madrid, Gil, insists the striker is staying, for the short term at least.

"The 60 million Euros for Falcao would practically end all of Atletico's economic problems," he confessed on radio station, Cadena Cope, before acting⁴ to calm the nerves of the club's supporters.

"With all security. He and all of the players that the coach (Pablo Simeone) want to keep, will stay," said Gil, who said he thought it would be very unlikely to see the striker cross town to sign for rivals, Real Madrid.

"If Atletico do not qualify for the Champions League and are unable to play what Falcao asks for, then I don't think Madrid will be able to pay him either," he said, promising⁵ the club would work hard to maintain a strong squad⁶.

"We do the impossible and we take risks in order to give the fans the sort of squad that they want. It is difficult to maintain," admitted Gil.

1 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

2 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。