The second of three clashes between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in February sees the duo lock horns in the second leg of their Kings Cup semifinal at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night. Barcelona lead 2-1 from the first leg at the Vicente Calderon and the winner will be strong favourites to take home the trophy, with the second leg being contested by Alaves and Celta Vigo
This is a crucial phase of the season for Barca, with the midweek game against Atleti followed by a tricky weekend away trip to Alaves (a team who have a pretty solid record at home) and then the first leg of their Round of 16 CL tie against French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona go into this game on the back of a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao- a fixture that saw the duo of Paco Alcacer and Aleix Vidal start the game together (a rarity this season!) and score in it as well. Lionel Messi, who scored Barca’s second of the fixture, was substituted before the final whistle despite not being injured. It was the first such sub for the Argentine superstar since 2014 and indicated that Enrique had one eye on the tie against Atleti.
Despite not scoring in the game, Neymar was outstanding in the fixture against Bilbao but Barca will have to do without his services on Tuesday after he picked up a third yellow in the first leg at the Calderon. Like Barca, Atleti also have a key player- in their case, Gabi, suspended.
For Barca, Rafinha will also miss this clash after breaking his nose in an unfortunate clash with Ter Stegen. However key defender Gerard Pique might be available despite being taken off at half time against Bilbao after picking up a muscle problem. Pique’s height and defensive abilities at set pieces will be important to the Catalans.
FCB form last five games
Eibar 0-4 Barcelona (W)
Barcelona 5-2 Real Sociedad (W)
Real Betis 1-1 Barcelona (D)
Atletico Madrid 1-2 Barcelona (W)
Barcelona 3-0 Athletic Bilbao (W)
Atletico Madrid form last five games
Athletic Bilbao 2-2 Atleti (D)
Eibar 2-2 Atletico Madrid (D)
Alaves 0-0 Atletico Madrid (D)
Atleti 0-2 Barcelona (D)
Atleti 2-0 Leganes (W)
Going by the form book, you’d probably have Barca as favourites. Atleti broke a four game winless streak by beating Leganes over the weekend, but games between Los Colchoneros and the Blaugrana have been tight in recent years. Atleti need to win by two goals to advance to the final. It’s not a new task for them- they did it in the quarterfinals of the Champions League last year, overturning a 2-1 loss from the first leg to beat the Catalans 3-2 on aggregate. Bet365 have Barca at 8/15 to win this clash with Atleti quoted at 5/1, and if you fancy Diego Simeone’s side to repeat their CL heroics, then check out Comparethebets.com for a bonus code before staking some ££ on the visitors.
Atleti’s 2-0 win over Barca in the CL quarters second leg
Last five games (H2H Barca Atleti)
Atletico Madrid 1-2 Barca
Barca 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barca
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Will Barca make it four Kings Cup finals in a row?.
They’ve reached the last three finals (five finals in the last six years) and won the tournament in 2015 and 2016. The two times in the last decade when Atleti reached the finals (2009-10 and 2012-13) were also the occasions when Barca didn’t contest the final.
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid (January 7, 2017- Camp Nou)