Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona – Betting Tips and LaLiga Preview

It has been a fairly open Spanish La Liga season to date with several unexpected leaders, but ahead of the weekend fixtures, Barcelona will aim to strengthen their position as league leaders when visiting an Atletico Madrid team just three points behind the Catalan outfit. Yet the Madrid based team will be aware that despite a couple of Champions League home victories against Barcelona in recent years, their last home victory in domestic league against Barca dates back to February 2010 when sealing a 2-1 win. Ending that winless sequence is essential for the hosts as they cannot afford to lose ground in the title race.

While a 1-0 midweek loss at Juventus was a setback for Atletico Madrid’s Champions League aspirations, their recent domestic form has also been a concern with just one victory earned from four previous matches. Yet Diego Simeone’s team are proving difficult to beat on home soil this term with no visiting team claiming more than one point. Three successive victories have been earned by Atletico at the Metropolitano Stadium, but that followed four consecutive draws at the venue. There is the added issue that the hosts failed to register a clean sheet in five competitive matches during November.

As for Barcelona, a 3-1 Champions League home victory against Borussia Dortmund sealed their passage into the knockout phase and may have proved that they are regaining momentum after a relatively poor beginning to November. However, Barca lost at Levante during the opening weekend of the season and have also lost two other matches on the road this term at Bilbao and Granada. Ernesto Valverde’s team may be almost invincible at the Nou Camp on current form, but they may be vulnerable on the road, and only won 2-1 at Leganes recently when 1-0 adrift and sealing victory via a late goal.

Team News

Diego Costa (neck surgery) will be sidelined for a few months at Atletico Madrid while Stefan Savic (knee) and Sime Vrsaljko (hamstring) are additional absentees. Borja Garces (knee ligaments) and Jose Gimenez (hamstring) have returned to training and could soon return to action.

Jordi Alba (hamstring) and Nelson Semedo (calf) are unlikely to fit for Barcelona whereas Ousmane Dembele (thigh) is also doubtful following an injury incurred on Wednesday evening. Sergio Busquets will be suspended for this match after another booking last weekend.

Prediction

It is worth noting that the last two meetings between these two teams at the Metropolitano Stadium have ended in 1-1 draws. Atletico Madrid have also been a difficult team to beat on home turf not only this term, but Real Madrid were the only visiting team to win at Atletico last season, and they lost just three competitive home games throughout the entire 2017-18 campaign. With Barcelona winning only at Getafe, Eibar and Leganes in domestic action this season, a good bet may be for Atletico Madrid and Barcelona to draw priced at 23/10 with Bet365.

A second pick is for Both Teams to Score offered at 10/11 by Bet365. In the last twelve meetings between these two Spanish giants, both teams have found the net on nine occasions. There have also never been more than two goals scored by either outfit during those games. A glance at the current form will also reveal that Atletico failed to score for the first time in eight matches when losing 1-0 at Juventus but they did miss a sitter during the closing stages. Visitors Barcelona have netted in all but one competitive match from late September onwards.