Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona

Metropolitano Stadium sets the stage for a mouth-watering La Liga encounter between bitter rivals Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.

Atletico Madrid’s Champions League campaign came to a controversial halt in midweek as fierce rivals Real Madrid beat them on penalties to lock down a quarter-final berth. As the dust settles, Diego Simeone’s charges return to their domestic commitments, seeking a pivotal win in their pursuit of a third La Liga title under the Argentine manager. ‘Los Rojiblancos’ stunned Barcelona 2-1 in the reverse fixture in Catalonia and could complete their first league double over the Camp Nou outfit since 2005/06. There’s no better place than the Metropolitano Stadium to help Atletico achieve that feat, as they’ve yet to lose a league game on home turf this season (W10, D4) – their longest unbeaten home start to a season since 2017/18.

In the meantime, Barcelona sealed a comfortable 4-1 aggregate win against Benfica to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, extending their unbeaten run in all competitions this calendar year to 17 matches (W14, D3). Hansi Flick’s charges have gone from strength to strength after a dismal return of just one win from eight La Liga games (D3, L4), winning their last six in a row, including a 4-0 rout of Real Sociedad last weekend. Adding to Barca’s confidence, they take this trip amid a three-game unbeaten away run against teams from the Community of Madrid (W2, D1). Therefore, Flick should be confident about his chances of avoiding becoming the first Barcelona manager to lose his first two league H2Hs against Atletico Madrid.