Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona Prediction and Preview – 13/04/16
Champions League preview – Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona prediction.
Fernando Torres’ away goal has given Atletico a chance in this tie but the Spanish striker will have to watch from the sidelines after getting sent off in Camp Nou last week. Angel Correa looks favourite to replace Torres but Diego Simeone also has the option of Luciano Vietto who is a more traditional centre-forward. Atletico can go with an otherwise unchanged lineup from the one that battled for 55 minutes with ten men in the first leg.
Luis Enrique will wait on news of Gerard Pique who has been troubled with his hip this week. Luis Suarez returns after serving his La Liga suspension at the weekend as Barcelona look to defend their 2-1 advantage with the same players that lined up for the first leg last week. Rafinha suffered a muscular strain in the game against Real Sociedad at the weekend and will miss out. Jeremy Mathieu and Sandro Ramirez are also ruled out.
Possible Line-ups
Atletico Madrid 4-3-3 formation: Oblak; Juanfran, Hernandez, Godin, Luis; Saul, Gabi, Koke; Griezmann, Correa, Carrasco
Barcelona 4-3-3 formation: ter Stegen; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Rakatic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Statistics
- Atletico Madrid have won 6 drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 10 matches
- Barcelona have won 7 drawn 1 and lost 2 of their last 10 matches
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Atletico Madrid have scored an average of 2 goals and conceded an average of 0.7 goals per game
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Barcelona have scored an average of 2.7 goals and conceded an average of 0.9 goals per game
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 7 of Barcelona’s previous 10 matches
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 8 of Atletico Madrid’s previous 10 matches
Prediction
Atletico looked in control until being reduced to ten men in the first leg and may claim the psychological advantage in addition to an away goal. However, they have lost their last six meetings with Barca and struggle to finish with a full compliment of players having had two sent off in the most recent league clash. Simeone’s men have only lost once at home in the league this season, against Barcelona last September, but have only won two of their four home games in the Champions League.
Barcelona’s performances have dipped since a sparkling display against Arsenal in the previous round. They have only won one of their last four games and were wasteful when losing 1-0 away to Real Sociedad at the weekend. Enrique’s men have not kept a clean sheet in the last five games but are undefeated in the Champions League since losing to Bayern Munich in last season’s semi-final.
Barcelona have not lost two consecutive games since November 2014 and can continue to hold their hoodoo over Atletico
Tips
Barcelona to win at 13/10 with William Hill
Over 2.5 goals at 21/20 with BetVictor
Barcelona to win 2-1 at 9/1 with BetVictor
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