Atletico Madrid-Barcelona is a match of the sixteenth day of La Liga and it is played on Sunday at 21:00: probable formations, predictions, TV and streaming.
In Saturday afternoon’s early match, Real Madrid surprisingly fell at home to Villarreal, an away match that proves to be haunted for the reigning European champions. The Yellow Submarine got the better of the Blancos 2-1 at the end of a nervous and tense match, characterised by continuous controversy because of some Var decisions, especially in the circumstance of the penalty – very doubtful – scored by Gerard Moreno.
Quique Setien, coach of the yellows, has indirectly done his former team, Barcelona, a favour. Who now have a great opportunity to regain the lone top spot in the table, taking advantage of the thud of Ancelotti’s men. In La Liga, it seems, it is a two-way battle between the historical rivals of Spanish football: ten are in fact the points that separate the blancos and blaugrana, paired at 38, from third place, momentarily occupied by Real Sociedad. Xavi’s team, however, has not enchanted at all since the start of the season. In their first outing of 2023 they were stopped in the city derby by Espanyol, who snatched a precious draw at Camp Nou (1-1). And a few days later it risked a resounding elimination from the Copa del Rey at the hands of a third-division team, Intercity, who were able to drag the match into extra time at the end of a pyrotechnic 3-4 that did not honour the Catalans.
Xavi without Lewandowski
Barcelona will have to win their big match against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening at the Civitas Metropolitano if they are to pull away from Real in the standings.
Joao Felix
The Colchoneros are lagging behind their great rivals, who have 11 points more: getting back into the title fight will be tricky. But if there is the slightest chance, it will be in the Sunday’s post-match encounter with the Blaugrana, who are without Lewandowski (disqualified for three days). Atletico, unlike Real and Barça, have started the second half of the season on the right foot, recording three victories: two in the Copa del Rey against Arenteiro and Oviedo and one in the league against Elche. Tests, however, that were far from probing, given the value of the opponents. In any case, the red and whites are back in the Champions League zone and are currently fourth, tied on 27 points with Villarreal.
The Prediction
Barcelona haven’t won at the Metropolitano since 2019, and Simeone will do everything with his game devoted almost exclusively to destroying the opponent’s so that the blaugrana fail to fulfil their potential. Both should score at least one goal each but we do not expect a high-scoring match, with Barça having only conceded six goals in La Liga so far. A draw cannot be ruled out.
Atletico Madrid-Barcelona line-ups
- ATLETICO MADRID (4-4-2): Oblak; Molina, Giménez, Savic, Reinildo; Llorente, Koke, Barrios, Carrasco; Griezmann, Joao Félix.
- BARCELONA (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Koundé, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; de Jong, Pedri, Gavi; Dembélé, Ansu Fati, Raphinha.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
