Barcelona welcome Atletico Madrid to Camp Nou on Saturday for a hugely important clash in the race for the La Liga title.
Atletico Madrid currently lead the way on 76 points, with third-place Barcelona sitting just two points behind.
Never tell me the odds. #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/ODXfWCFEtt— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 4, 2021
Never tell me the odds. #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/ODXfWCFEtt
Real Madrid are also on 74 points. However, Los Blancos are ahead of Barca thanks to their superior head-to-head record.
A win for Atletico would see them open up a five-point lead over Barcelona, while a Barca win would see them leapfrog Atletico and lead by one point.
Barcelona came from behind to secure a 3-2 victory over Valencia last time out, with Lionel Messi netting a brace and Antoine Griezmann also getting on the scoresheet.
However, a 2-1 defeat to Granada last week means that Ronal Koeman’s side have lost two of their previous five matches.
Looking at the bigger picture, Barcelona have only lost two of their last 24 league matches and have won nine of their previous 11.
But with Atletico and Real Madrid continuing to win elsewhere, Barcelona can’t afford to drop any more points from now until the end of the season.
On the flip side, Atletico Madrid sealed a 1-0 victory over Eibar last weekend, with Marcos Llorente scoring the only goal of the game.
Diego Simeone’s men have now won three of their previous four La Liga games, but they have also lost two of their last six.
Remarkably, Atletico have only lost four of their 34 league matches this term, picking up 23 wins and seven draws along the way.
It is also worth noting that Atletico boast the best defensive record in La Liga, having conceded just 22 goals this season.
Head-to-head: Atletico secured a 1-0 victory over Barcelona back in November, with Yannick Carrasco bagging the winner.
Interestingly, Atletico are now unbeaten in their last three meetings with Barca in all competitions (two wins, one draw).
Team news: Barcelona trio Moussa Wague, Philippe Coutinho and Martin Braithwaite are currently sidelined through injury.
Meanwhile, Renan Lodi is Atletico’s only injury doubt. Luis Suarez will surely be eager to get the better of his former club on Saturday.
Barcelona have no choice but to go for broke on Saturday, so we are likely to see an open and high-scoring game between top sides.
Forebet predicts that Barcelona will score over 2.5 goals on their way to victory over Atletico – keeping their title hopes alive.