Kevin Gameiro didn't want to be like Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Barcelona

Kevin Gameiro didn't want to be like Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Barcelona [ad_1]

The FC crew debate whether or not Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid's UCL semi-final tie will be high-scoring or a chess match.

Craig Burley evaluates this week's player power rankings, with Kevin Gameiro atop the list after his five-minute hat trick.

Kevin Gameiro scored hat-tricks against Sporting Gijon in LaLiga Santander 2016-17 match played between Sporting Gijon vs Atletico Madrid

A quickfire hat-trick by Kevin Gameiro gave Atletico Madrid a crucial win in La Liga to stay in touch with the top three.

Atletico Madrid striker Kevin Gameiro has said he turned Barcelona down because he did not want to end up becoming another Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Gameiro had offers from Atletico and Barca last summer, but eventually opted to leave Sevilla for the former in a deal worth around €30 million.

Manchester United's Ibrahimovic joined Barca from Inter in 2009, only to leave again the next season having fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola.

"I had the choice between going to Barca or coming to Atletico," Gameiro said to Le10 Sport. "But what am I going to do at Barca? There's Neymar, [Lionel] Messi and [Luis] Suarez.

"There are players like that who want to play every match, who refuse to go off for even 10 minutes at the end. That's what happened with Ibra."

Kevin Gameiro has scored 12 La Liga goals this season.

Gameiro had revealed earlier this season that Diego Simeone played a key role in getting him to Atletico -- despite admitting he was second choice to Diego Costa on his wish list.

Injuries have hampered his first season at the Vicente Calderon, but he has still managed to score 16 goals in all competitions so far and is fit for Tuesday's Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid.

After missing out on the 29-year-old, Barca instead signed Valencia striker Paco Alcacer for €30m.

Alcacer has spent large parts of the campaign sitting on the bench watching Neymar, Messi and Suarez.

It took until December for him to score his first Barcelona goal, but he has featured more in recent weeks and has now scored seven times in all competitions for the club.

Samuel Marsden covers Barcelona for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @SamuelMarsden.

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