CL QF 1st leg: FC Barcelona 1 - Atletico Madrid 1

In this game we are facing the current La Liga league leaders for the 4th time this season. Previous results were 3 consecutive draws, 2 of them scoreless. One of the worst possible opponents to face for Barca, compareable to Chelsea 2009 and Inter 2010. Atletico Madrid under Simeone close down spaces as if their lives depend on it, especially in big games. Wingplay will be very important in this one as the middle will be heavily congested so Tata should go with 2 natural wide players.

Predicted lineup:

Nerman Messi Alexis
Iniesta Xavi
Busquets
Alba Masche Pique Alves
VV :facepalm:Pinto

Is Cesc suspended?

danyjr wrote:Is Cesc suspended?

No. I just asumed that Tata is going to use his brain here and won't utilize a 4 man midfield against the narrowest team on the planet.

I can see you lot are excited for this

I'll honestly be worried if we don't finish them off the first leg.

Ganso wrote:I can see you lot are excited for this

It'd be more exciting if it were an out-of-league match.

Diego Costa seems to be injured for this one. According to Simeone he's doubtful for tomorrow.  

I'm gonna call mind games BS on that

Ganso wrote:I can see you lot are excited for this

Nothing to talk about really, we know how they will play, they know how we will.

The only question out there is Alexis vs Cesc and I think nearly everyone wants the same thing on that one.

Alba has been pretty good for the past 2-3 games now, so this is a nice test for himm all tho he did also hold his own against RM.

tough game... Its obvious that we have to start with 3 forwards in this game, I would pick the same lineup as Fussball...
hopefully, we'll win and keep a clean sheet.

I'm okay with a 1-0 win, 2-0 would be great!

Some websites saying Costa will not be available?

if true then it's confirmed they will park a plane.

The Franchise wrote:

Ganso wrote:I can see you lot are excited for this

Nothing to talk about really, we know how they will play, they know how we will.

The only question out there is Alexis vs Cesc and I think nearly everyone wants the same thing on that one.

everyone but tata   

CBarca wrote:Yeah there isn't a whole lot to talk about regarding this match in the build up.

We'll probably see Martino's big game "throw every big name on the team sheet" line up again. Is Adriano fit? I remember Alba being ripped to shreds the last time we played Atletico.

Well you guys act like Pep didnt do the same thing in his last season with us (He's actually the one to blame for this with trying to intrigate Cesc and destroying the best pairing ever of Xaviesta), and also Tito and Roura did this. At least Tata doesnt do it week in and week out. He will rotate Song and other guys in from time to time unlike last two season when we JUST played the same 11 players every week. That said, I'm not saying tactically Tata is better or anything like that; I'm just saying everyone is acting like Tata isn't doing the same thing our past 3 managers didn't do first yet he gets crapped on like he's the only one.

Fußball wrote:

danyjr wrote:Is Cesc suspended?

No. I just asumed that Tata is going to use his brain here and won't utilize a 4 man midfield against the narrowest team on the planet.

when you assume you make an ass of you and me, etc etc

As with recently, I always feel confident since our main players are on form. Just question mark over Pinto and our defense, but if they perform, we should win this.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I'm gonna call mind games BS on that

Costa starts....

Me

Simeone switching to his working formula of 4-4-2 to clog up the middle of the park against Barça.

4 midfielders. Tata.

This is the exact same formation as the one in Bernabéu.

Simeone playing his tried and tested 4-4-2 against Barça.

Tata blew this game. No one to blame but him really.

Bartra >>>>> Piqué

Also Fàbregas was useless and Pedro should have come as opposed to Sánchez in my opinion.

I could have started for Fabregas and the game would have gone a lot better than this.
Fabregas offers nothing at that point. Tata needs to see the team in football rather in marketing terms

We were playing with 10 yet again. Soon as Alexis came on for Cesc we actually started looking like we might score and we did.

Other than that things went down as expected. Don't think Pinto is to blame for the goal he conceded, it was just a ridiculous shot. Bartra was magnificent yet again, didn't put a foot wrong as far as I could see. Busquets was also very good. Messi marked out of the game entirely pretty much, but Iniesta was on fire as usual lately and gave the solution. Neymar also had a pretty good game.

They got a slight advantage going into the 2nd leg, but aiming to score and not lose when we go there are entirely realistic expectations and I'm confident we can do it. More worried about not drawing in the final game of the league actually, assuming we both win all other remaining games.