Atletico Madrid Vs Barcelona Preview
FC Barcelona need to win 4 matches in three different competitions to win the treble. Their trip to Vicente Calderon on Sunday, exactly a year to the day that Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona to win the title at Camp Nou.
The story is quite different in this campaign as they trail Barcelona by 13 points. They have suffered this season after selling star players like Costa and Filipe Luis. They also suffered because of injuries this season. Atletico need to register a win on Sunday to keep their Champions League hopes alive for the next season.
"We hope to win the match and secure that third place. But football is like that. Atletico became champion last year at the Camp Nou, and as football and fate would have it, Barcelona have the possibility of becoming champion on our field. But that does not tell us anything because we are fighting a different war, to win to be third and achieve the objective we need." Fernando Torres stated.
Gerrard Pique of Barcelona said: "To have the chance to win the treble at this point in the season doesn't happen often. We are fighting for the treble, but taking into account what is being said, I get the feeling that we have already won the treble. There is not much to go, but it is the most difficult part, we have to be united.”
Both teams are without one player each, Barcelona are without Luis Suarez who seemed to have injured his hamstring in the Semi Final clash against Bayern while Atletico lost Tiago to a suspension.
Atletico are unbeaten in their last 13 league games and have conceded in only four of them however, they haven’t managed to defeat the Catalans in their last 9 league meetings. FC Barcelona are in fine form too, having won their last five league matches and netting 20 goals in the process. The current table toppers would look to settle scores with Atletico the events that took place in the final league match in last year’s La Liga. Atletico won last year when Barcelona failed to seize the opportunity to win and succumbed to a 1-1 draw at Nou Camp.