This Saturday’s huge La Liga League clash sees Atlético Madrid make the trip to face FC Barcelona at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. This is a massive match both teams share the same number of points, split by goal difference in first and second in the standings.
Team Previews, Form and Standout Players
Formation: 3-5-2
Predicted Line-Up: Iñaki Peña; Alejandro Balde, Iñigo Martínez, Pau Cubarsí, Jules Koundé; Pedri, Marc Casadó; Raphinha, Fermín López, Dani Olmo; Robert Lewandowski
FC Barcelona have had a magnificent start to the season, but they have recently faltered slightly, losing the gap they used to have to second place. Playing 18 games and they sit top of the La Liga table with 12 wins, four losses and two draws. Those results have left them with 38 points, actually sharing the same tally as their opponents Atlético Madrid but goal difference is what’s keeping them as the league leaders for now, it helps when you’re the best scoring team in La Liga with 50 goals.
Barça have had two shock defeats at home recently, a 1-2 loss four games ago against Las Palmas and last Sunday they suffered a 0-1 loss versus Leganes. Robert Lewandowski is once again proving as to why he is one of the most elite strikers in the world. He has netted 16 goals in 17 games for Blaugrana. Hansi Flick will be delighted in his form and will hope that he can turn on his prowess in this huge match on Saturday.
Formation: 4-4-2
Predicted Line-Up: Jan Oblak; Javi Galán, Clément Lenglet, José María Giménez; Marcos Llorente; Conor Gallagher, Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo de Paul, Giuliano Simeone; Julián Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann
Atlético Madrid have had a excellent start to the season, finding themselves ahead of fierce rivals Real Madrid in the standings on top of being in a title race. After 17 games they sit in second place with 11 wins, one loss and five draws. Those matches have left them with 38 points, tied with their opponents Barcelona but crucially Diego Simeone’s men have a game in hand to the La Liga leaders.
Having retired from international this year, once he retires from club football Antoine Griezmann deserves a statue outside of the Wanda Metropolitano. He is still putting on incredible displays whilst donning the Atlético shirt, truly rolling back the years. Those displays have made him top goalscorer for Los Colchoneros so far. The Frenchman has contributed to 11 goals in the 17 games he’s featured in, a key factor as to why Atlético have been able to go undefeated for their last 11 games across all competitions. With those numbers, he will have the responsibility of being the difference maker for Madrid, a role that he normally fulfils well.
There have been 242 matches where these two teams have faced each other throughout history.
FC Barcelona come into this match holding an advantage over Atlético Madrid. They have come out victors on 110 occasions, leaving Atlético with 76 wins and the remaining 56 fixtures ending in a draw.
The last five faceoffs have been split in the favour of Barcelona with them winning all of those games. This Saturday seems like Atlético have a much better chance of picking out a result but we will have to wait and see.
Atlético Madrid have been doing great in the La Liga standings at the moment, properly cementing themselves into a title race again. Despite those two recent losses, Barcelona have proved over many years now that they can never be counted out in derbies. For that reason, our betting experts have gone with Half Time/Full Time Result FC Barcelona/FC Barcelona as our best value tip for this game.
Odds of 15/8 mean that a £10 bet has the potential to return up to £28.75 in this match.
(Odds subject to change)
FC Barcelona 3-1 Atlético Madrid
This is such a difficult match to call as we can see a very close fought match but with Barcelona to just about come away with a win.
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