La Liga: Only Atleti Can Stop Barca Title March!

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

Diego Simeone takes his Atletico Madrid to the Camp Nou on Saturday night, and it has to be Los Rojiblancos’ last chance to win something this season.

The game of the weekend, La Liga Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid, could virtually seal the title for Ernesto Valverde’s reigning champions, eight points clear of their visitors with eight games left. If that gap becomes 11 with seven games left I’d say that’s probably job done for Barcelona.

Real Madrid’s defeat at Valencia, Zinedine Zidane’s first as returning head coach, has put Los Blancos out of the running, 13 points behind the Catalans. So it’s all down to Atleti, who boast the best defence in Europe but they need to find a way of scoring goals at the Camp Nou.

Talking Points

Barca players take a (short) rest

The Catalans have dominated SBOBET La Liga 2019 playing the best football, winning the most games and scoring by far the most goals, 79, which is 26 more than Real Madrid, and 34 more than their weekend opponents. To say La Liga was billed as potentially a three horse race at the start of the season, Barca looks to be romping home like the thoroughbred it is. Only Atleti can come up on the rails now.

Barcelona can take a big step in sealing their La Liga title as they face top two Atletico Madrid — Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring from free-kick during their match against Villareal

Lionel Messi has been imperious as ever, and he was one of the big names, alongside centre back Gerard Pique and midfield maestro Ivan Rakitic, to be rested in the away game to relegation threatened Villarreal. It turned out to be a belter of a game, and more trouble than Valverde expected. After Barca let a 0-2 lead slip to a 4-2 deficit with time running out, Messi climbed off the bench to curl in a free-kick and save the game with his 32^nd goal of the season.

Luis Suarez scored the other late goal, his 19^th of the campaign, to earn Barcelona a 4-4 draw. Messi is sure to start against Los Rojiblancos, as is Pique, though Rakitic may start on the bench with Philippe Coutinho likely to get the nod.

Having beaten Lyon in the last round of the Champions League, Valverde’s men have a quarter final clash against Manchester United next week, and they may have one eye on that game, and that is Atleti’s best hope.

Atletico must go for it

Diego Simeone’s side only has a slim chance of pulling off a remarkable winning campaign and that will all but disappear unless they get a win at the Camp Nou.

The Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid news in the run up to the big match hasn’t all been good for the visitors though. Simeone will have to go into this top of the table clash without one of his key strikers. Alavaro Morata limped off in the win over Genoa on Tuesday night, and is out for two weeks with a hamstring injury. With Diego Costa also doubtful, there could be a place in the side for Nikola Kalinic as a strike partner for Antoine Griezmann.

Atleti have nothing to lose in this match and Simeone need to abandon his defensive instincts and go for the win. The visitors are already out of the Champions League having lost to Juventus after leading 2-0 after the first leg, and they went out to Girona in the Copa del Rey. They kept their league hopes alive with two late goals against Genoa, one from Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann’s 13^th of the season.

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Premier League

History

Barcelona has had the better of the meetings between these two sides, winning almost half of the 59 games since 1993, 29 to Atleti’s 15 and there have been 15 draws.

The last six meetings have been very tight, producing three 1-1 draws and three marginal wins for Barca, two at 2-1 and one at 1-0.

Both teams come into the game in a rich vein of form with five wins in six, Barca drawing that classic against the Yellow Submarine, while Atleti lost to Athletic Bilbao.

The last meeting resulted in a 1-1, but there isn’t much more encouragement for the visiting fans. The Catalans have won 11, drawn three and lost one at home this season, and haven’t lost to Los Rojiblancos at the Camp Nou on the last 18 occasions.

And they are unbeaten in 15.

Betting Tip

	Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid	2-3 goals @ 1.90
	April 7, 02:45 (GMT+8)

So even though this is first versus second, the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid betting odds points quite clearly to a home win, with Barca at 1.79, the draw at 3.50 and Atleti at 4.40.

But Simeone’s men simply have to go for it. They have a defence which is hard to break down, but can they do the business at the other end? I can see it ending in a narrow win for Barca or maybe another draw.

If you fancy yet another 1-1 then that is available at 6.60!