Barcelona will welcome Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp on Saturday afternoon as they look to pick up all three points at home and leapfrog their opponents to the top of the La Liga table. The Catalan outfit managed to beat Valencia by a 3-2 scoreline earlier this month, so they will be quietly confident about their chances of success this weekend.
Ronald Koeman will set his team up in a 3-1-4-2 formation once again and could be inclined to make one change to his starting XI for this game. Oscar Mingueza will come into the side to feature in central defence while Ronald Araujo settles for a place on the bench.
3-1-4-2 Barcelona Predicted Lineup To Face Atletico Madrid
Defence
Marc-André ter Stegen will play in between the sticks for the Catalans after he shipped in two goals in his last league start. Koeman could opt for a back three of Oscar Mingueza, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet. All three of them will have to find a way to keep things tidy at the back if Barca are to come out on top this weekend.
As mentioned earlier, Ronald Araujo will make up the numbers on the bench as he offers cover for the centre-back positions.
Midfield
Sergio Busquets will function as Barca’s primary defensive midfielder while both Jordi Alba and Frenkie de Jong operate as the box to box midfielders just ahead of him at the centre of the park. All three of them will have to work hard to win the midfield battle and create some decent chances in the attacking third.
Pedri will play as the left-sided wing-back while Sergiño Dest operates on the other side as the right wing-back. They will be responsible for stretching the opposition defence by making some overlapping runs out on the wide areas.
Riqui Puig and Sergi Roberto will have to be content with a place on the bench but could come on to influence the game in the second half if required.
Attack
Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi will function as Koeman’s primary strikers up top. Messi will once again be expected to weave his magic so that Barca can pick up all three points at the Nou Camp.
Ousmane Dembele will be named on the bench as he awaits his chance to shine as an impact substitute in the latter stages if Koeman decides to call upon his services.
