La Liga: Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona Preview, Odds, Prediction

The whole of Spain is eager to see the big derby at Wanda Metropolitan this Saturday, where Atletico Madrid hosts Barcelona. We haven’t seen the hosts enter one match against Barca as the favorites for a long time, but that is about to change. Blaugrana’s struggles have made them a massive underdog in this event, and the bookies think that the five-time European champs have pretty slim chances of getting out of Madrid undefeated.

Preview

Atletico Madrid (-110) posted a big win in Milan this Tuesday, erasing the hosts’ advantage at halftime and earning three points in the seventh minute of the injury time. The veteran, Luis Suarez, netted from the penalty, once again proving that his team is the most dangerous in the final 15 minutes of the match.

The road trip to Italy was the third one in a row for the Madridians, who now come back home for the first time since September 18. Simeone’s guys played at home four times this year, and on three occasions, we’ve seen under 2.5 goals.

In those matches, Atletico kept its net intact, which is a positive thing. But what concerns their fans is the fact that they recorded only one victory and three draws during that span.

Barcelona (+300) that is Blaugrana’s board is still unsure whether they need to keep Ronald Koeman as their head coach or not. A slap in the face in Lisbon where Benfica won 3-0 on Wednesday night was pretty painful, but still, the Dutch head coach wasn’t sacked.

To be perfectly honest, the Spanish powerhouse wouldn’t be much better with some other guy in charge because they simply don’t have the quality. And not just that, Barcelona is in problems off the field as well, which is a bit demoralizing for the players.

An interesting stat is that four of the previous five events Barca played ended with just one side scoring, and in three of those games, they were the ones who couldn’t net.

Latest News

Kiernan Trippier is the only one with an injury in Atletico, and the Englishman is questionable for this game.

On the other side, Aguero is out for a long time, Martin Braithwaite is ruled out too, as well as Dembele. What will be a big problem for Koeman is the absence of young Pedri, who is one of the best midfielders in Spain despite being a teenager.

Head to Head Games

Barcelona is without a win in the past four direct encounters. Last year, Atletico won at home, 1-0, and after that played without goals on the road.

Prediction

Barca is in terrible shape, and they should be an easy target for Simeone’s unit. Three points here are worth twice as much because this is an encounter with a direct rival, plus, it would positively affect the morale of the Madridians in the best possible way. Even though this might sound odd, we really believe that Barcelona has nothing to hope for at Wanda Metropolitan.

Pick: Atletico Madrid Wins -110