Barcelona make their way to the Vicente Calderon where they will look to prevail over a strong Atletico Madrid side and bounce back after being swamped by critics recently. Barcelona’s topsy-turvy season threatened to fall away when they were thrashed 4-0 by PSG in the Champions League Round of 16 match and a dire and narrow win over Leganes via a last-minute Lionel Messi penalty did little to allay the discontent amongst fans. Luis Enrique’s time as a Barcelona manager seems to be heading toward an abrupt end and a major turnaround is needed either domestically or in Europe if he is to retain the job.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, have had their inconsistent moments in the League and have been challenged hard by Sevilla for a 3rd spot place. But they look favourites to advance in the Champions League after prevailing over Bayer Leverkusen 4-2. The match will be extremely close and can potentially end Barcelona’s ongoing feeble title charge.
TRIVIA
- Atletico de Madrid have won their last three La Liga games – they are yet to win four in a row this season.
- This will be the last La Liga game between Barcelona and Atletico at the Vicente Calderon. If Barca don’t lose, they will record their longest unbeaten run there (W5 D1 currently).
- Barcelona are one-two La Liga teams unbeaten against Diego Simeone as manager (D3 L10), alongside Alaves (D2).
- This will be Diego Simeone’s 300th games as manager of Atlético de Madrid (all competitions).
- Barcelona have scored 48 goals in their last 15 away games in La Liga (3.2 per game).
- Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 13 games against Atlético (W10 D3), their best streak against Madrilean opposition in the top- flight.
- Lionel Messi has scored 12 goals at Vicente Calderón (11 against Atlético de Madrid and one goal against Athletic Club in the final of the Spanish Copa del Rey in 2012).
- Antoine Griezmann has scored three goals in his last two games against Barcelona at Vicente Calderón, with two of those headed goals.
- Only against Sevilla (27) has Lionel Messi scored more goals than against Atlético de Madrid (26) in all competitions.
TEAM NEWS & PREDICTED LINE-UP
ATLETICO MADRID (4-4-2)
The trio of Tiago, Juanfran and Augusto Fernandez will not feature against Barca, but Diego Godin could play a part after training on Friday.
Moya; Vrsaljko, Savic, Lucas, Luis; Saul, Koke, Gabi, Carrasco; Griezmann, Gameiro
BARCELONA (4-3-3)
Aleix Vidal is sidelined for the remainder of the season due to an unfortunate ankle injury in the recent win at Alaves. Mascherano is a doubt for the game against Simeone’s side after a spell out, but Arda Turan might have a few minutes if he proves his match fitness.
Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Neymar, Suarez, Messi
BETTING ODDS
ATLETICO MADRID- 9/5
DRAW- 12/5
BARCELONA- 6/4
TRIVIA COURTESY- OPTA
