The current Spanish champions, Atlético Madrid, will entertain with the all-powerful Barcelona at Vicente Calderon for round 37 of the Liga BBVA.
Last Tuesday, Bayern Munich put an end to Barça’s fantastic winning streak at Allianz Arena on the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals stage. Pep Guardiola’s men were stronger than the Catalan team, especially during the second-half of the match, but in the end it was Barcelona who moved on to the Berlin’s final.
The Catalan team are only one win away from granting La Liga’s title, something that escaped them last season mostly because of Simeone’s Atlético Madrid fantastic campaign. On Sunday, Barcelona might grant the Spanish top tier title precisely against their executioners from last season, but the Vicente Calderón match will definitely not be an easy one.
Luis Enrique’s Barcelona is completely different from the bland team that lacked soul and intensity last season. The Asturian manager has rebuilt that powerful Barça from Guardiola’s era and has, in a way, even improved on it. Barcelona’s game is mixture of quality possession and superbly synchronized attacking football, with pinpointing long balls that wreck the opponent’s defensive lines through quick counter-attacks.
It is always complicated to play against Atlético at Vicente Calderón, but this “refurbished” Barcelona have already managed to beat them in their own ground last January, on the second-leg of a Copa del Rey Quarter-finals.
As for Altéti, Los Colchoneros are definitely not as strong as they were last season and they weren’t able to cope with the immense power of their rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid, for large periods of the season.
Atlético Madrid have shown some inconsistency, especially in the second part of the season, and that was definitely what prevented them from battling for La Liga’s title until the end of the season.
Los Colchoneros are currently on a poor streak of results, with two draws on their recent two matches. Last weekend, Simeone’s men failed to grant anything better than a 2-2 draw against Levante but were lucky enough to see their closest opponents, Valencia and Sevilla, also fail to win their respective matches.
Atlético Madrid
Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2
Recent Form – DDWWLL
Barcelona
Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0
Recent Form – LWWWW
