Unbeaten LaLiga leaders Barcelona face a tough test on Saturday evening as they visit undefeated Atletico Madrid at Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Barcelona won this fixture 2-1 last season, but Atletico managed to get a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou. The two teams also met in Copa del Rey last term and the results were identical: Barcelona won 2-1 away from home before a 1-1 draw in Catalonia. Atletico Madrid have not won a league match against Barcelona since 2010, but they did manage to knock them out of the Champions League twice, in 2014 and 2016.
Atletico Madrid didn't have a great start to the season but they are still unbeaten after seven league matches. The problem is that they recorded three draws, all of them away from home. In the Champions League they started with a good goalless draw at AS Roma but then lost at home against Premier League champions Chelsea. Before the international break Atletico were held to a goalless draw at Leganes. Sime Vrsaljko picked up an injury while on international duty with Croatia and might be unavailable for Saturday's match.
Barcelona started the season with bad news all over, first they lost Neymar and then got defeated twice by rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. They did bounce back in style though, they won all their seven LaLiga matches and also got two Champions League wins, 3-0 at home against Juventus and 1-0 at Sporting. They scored an impressive 23 goals in LaLiga so far and conceded just two. Rafinha and Ousmane Dembele remain the only injury concerns for head coach Ernesto Valverde.
Probable line-ups:
Atletico: Oblak - Gimenez, Savic, Godin, Luis - Koke, Gabi, Partey, Niguez - Griezmann, Correa
Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Alba - Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta - Messi, L. Suarez, D. Suarez
My prediction: Barcelona to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Atletico win - 2.80
Draw - 3.25
Barcelona win - 2.60
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Comments (1)
sharpe
10/28/17, 07:10:58 PM
The fact that Atletico didn't win over Barcelona from 2010 showing itself how tough they play against the Catalans, no doubtfully Barcelona were favourites in this...
The fact that Atletico didn't win over Barcelona from 2010 showing itself how tough they play against the Catalans, no doubtfully Barcelona were favourites in this one too so not really a surprise they manage to win after Atletico let's say slow start of the season. Looks like it would be Barca - Real duel for the title again in Spain and that's more than boring.
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