Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona
Atletico Madrid takes on Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano in La Liga on Saturday night. The La Liga champions will come into the match with confidence after beating AC Milan in midweek in the Champions League.
Meanwhile, Barcelona looks the shadow of their former self, after yet another poor Champions League display in midweek. The Catalan team got thrashed 3-0 at Lisbon thanks to a commanding Benfica performance. Their Champions league performance against the Portuguese champions was a complete contrast to what they produced against Levante three days earlier. It was like night and day. However, Barcelona is still unbeaten in the league. But, they will have to work very hard on Saturday to keep it that way.
Barcelona
Meanwhile, this might be the last game Ronald Koeman prepares Barcelona as tensions behind the scenes are rising at Camp Nou. Rumors have started flying in about Koeman’s future and if they are to be believed Koeman might not be at the club after the Atletico Madrid game. It is worth noting that the Dutchman will not be on the touchline on Saturday’s game as he serves a two-game touchline ban.
Barcelona is still without Dembele, Aguero, and Braithwaite through injury. Ansu Fati is once again expected to start on the bench. Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde are still unavailable with an injury. Meaning, Sergio Dest is once again expected to start in the Left-Back slot. The American has impressed the left-hand side of the defense since moving there. He was once again living in his team’s defeat against Benfica.
It will be fascinating to see how Barcelona responds to the pressure they are under.
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Atletico Madrid
Meanwhile, for Atletico Madrid, Antoine Griezmann scoring in the Champions League would have been a huge boost. Simeone will very much want Griezmann and Suarez along with other forwards to take advantage of a struggling Barcelona backline.
Particularly, Suarez is very much poised to meet his former club and the Uruguayan did not hold back about his intention of scoring against them. However, he said that he would never celebrate if he score against them as he respects Barcelona.
He said,
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“I want to win on Saturday & score, but I will not celebrate. I have full respect for Barca.”
