Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona

Metropolitano Stadium forms the backdrop for a mouth-watering La Liga top-four six-pointer between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.

Diego Simeone’s ‘never give up’ mentality prevailed again as Atletico Madrid hauled back a 2-0 deficit en route to crashing Inter Milan out of the Champions League via penalties in midweek. However, Los Rojiblancos have recently stuttered in domestic action, suffering an embarrassing Copa del Rey exit to Athletic Bilbao while failing to win two of their last three La Liga matches (D1, L1). Relegation-battling Cadiz ended their dreadful 23-game winless league run against Atletico Madrid only last weekend, throwing their top-four hopes into further doubt. With Bilbao winning their game earlier this matchday, Simeone’s men need a win here to regain a coveted fourth place. Scoring first could be a game-defining moment, considering the last three La Liga meetings between these two teams in Madrid have seen the winner keep a clean sheet (W2, L1).

Like Atletico, Barcelona overcame Italian opposition in midweek Champions League action, thumping Napoli 3-1 at home to secure a quarter-final berth. Fresh off extending their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games (W6, D3), the Catalans take this trip looking to post back-to-back away league wins against Atletico for the first time since 2017 following a narrow 1-0 triumph in this corresponding fixture last term. Xavi Hernandez’s men have seemingly rediscovered their defensive solidity after struggling defensively for most of the season, stringing together three straight La Liga games without conceding for the first time in 2023/24. Maintaining that tactical wit could prove crucial to stretching their four-game winning H2H run, considering their last three victories have yielded an identical 1-0 scoreline.