Can Barcelona seal another La Liga trophy with a victory over Atlético Madrid this weekend?

As much as La Liga has been a big mystery for the majority of the ongoing campaign, Saturday’s clash between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid at the Camp Nou very much feels like a league-deciding game. The battle between first and second is always a special treat, particularly now that a win for either of them could have a huge impact on the grand scheme of things, one way or the other.

At the moment, both teams are enjoying good runs in the domestic competition and there doesn’t seem to be much separating them. In fact, even the first fixture which was played at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium ended in a one-all draw.

That is not to say that they are flawless in their execution. Just this midweek, Barcelona suffered greatly facing Villarreal and only managed to secure a 4-4 draw due to some late Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez magic. Diego Simeone’s troops had to bow down from chasing the Champions League trophy after they blew a 2-0 lead to Juventus, and suffered another huge blow that saw them question more than just their initial approach.

A win for Barcelona would see them jump to an 11-point lead while a win for Atlético Madrid would see them cut it to only five. Either way, this could very well be the be-all, end-all matchup in La Liga.

This tactical preview will analyse both teams and what they will bring to the table, together with some team news and finally, a bold prediction as to who is more likely to get the three points when the two meet this Saturday.

Team news

Barcelona

The Catalan camp could sleep tightly on Friday knowing that they can indeed bring their first-choice XI to todays clash. The only real question mark for Barcelona is Ousmane Dembélé as the young Frenchman is still recovering from an injury he aggravated against Lyon in the Champions League.

Although Dembélé has reportedly been participating in some of Barcelona’s training sessions recently, he is expected to miss the Atlético Madrid game so that he can be 100% ready for Manchester United come next week. The other good news is the return of Jasper Cillessen, who also seems to be regaining fitness and could feature on the bench as the reserve for Marc-André ter Stegen.

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