[La Liga - Jornada 37] Atletico de Madrid - FC Barcelona

VS

Date: May 17, 2015.
Time: 17:00 GMT, Sunday night.
Location: Estadio Vicente Calderon, Madrid.

It's gonna be ironic if we officially win the title in Atletico's stadium this season. Should be interesting to see if the Vicente Calderon crowd are going to show the same class Cules did last season.



Predicted Starting XI:

Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Neymar, Pedro.

OPTA Facts:

Atletico are without a win in nine league meetings with Barcelona (D2 L7), their worst ever run in this fixture.

In the Calderon, Atletico are without a win in four against Barcelona (D1 L3).

Barcelona will be La Liga champions if they win this game; ironically Atletico won the title last year with a victory away at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona have only lost one of their last eight league trips to Madrid (W5 D2), losing at the Bernabeu in October.

The Red-and-Whites are unbeaten in 13 league games (W7 D6), conceding in only four of them.

Luis Enrique’s side have won their last five league matches, scoring 20 and conceding none.

Luis Suarez has recorded 14 assists in La Liga this season; only in one campaign (17 with Ajax in 2009/10) has he recorded more since moving to Europe.

Gabi has assisted two of Atleti’s last three league goals against Barcelona.

Atletico faced seven shots on target in the return meeting with Barca this term; the most they have faced in a league game since the start of last season.

Against no side has Lionel Messi scored more career goals in all competitions than he has against Atletico (22, level with Sevilla).

Messi has not scored in any of his last five games at the Vicente Calderon, however, with his last strike there coming in the 2012 Copa del Rey final.

Neymar has now scored 52 career goals for Barcelona, the first of which came against Atletico in the 2013 Supercopa.

Only against Villarreal (9) has Fernando Torres scored more La Liga goals than he has against Barcelona (7).

No Suarez, no party.

Have no fear - Sextuple GOAT Pedrito is here.

Well, one thing's for sure. Mehdrid dropping points against Valencia makes me feel at ease now.

Fußball wrote:No Suarez, no party.

Atleti don't have anything left to play for, they've already mathematically qualified for the 4th spot

Not that I expect a Simeone side to bend over backwards, but we should win this on motivation alone

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

Fußball wrote:No Suarez, no party.

Atleti don't have anything left to play for, they've already mathematically qualified for the 4th spot

Not that I expect a Simeone side to bend over backwards, but we should win this on motivation alone

They play for 3th spot. If Valencia win their remaining 2 games, which is probable against Almeria and Celta Vigo at home, and Atletico drop points against Barca they end up 4th and have to play unnecessary qualifiers.

Sure but the motivation level of "If we win this we win the league!" vs "If we win this then we might have t play some scrub, lame" is quite different

Well, of course it's not a do or die matter for them. But they surely won't be playing it like a friendly either.

Its a must win game for Athletico not for us. no one wants to play qualifier no matter vs. scrub team or better, when they could qualify directly. So they should be more motivated. Thats why i hoped Athletico win vs. bilbao. in that case, this game would be not so important for them. In that sense, we rather have better chance to win vs. depor at home.
Should be great game. i hope we dont breakdown physically yet...give it our best in one more game...

neuro11 wrote:Its a must win game for Athletico not for us. no one wants to play qualifier no matter vs. scrub team or better, when they could qualify directly. So they should be more motivated. Thats why i hoped Athletico win vs. bilbao. in that case, this game would be not so important for them. In that sense, we rather have better chance to win vs. depor at home.
Should be great game. i hope we dont breakdown physically yet...give it our best in one more game...

Atletico are 4 points ahead of Valencia. They could lose this one and win the last game away against Granada and still end up 3rd. Not really a must win game for either of us, but for sure we'd like to wrap up the league as early as possible while they'd like to end the season by securing the 3rd place.

Great OP, thread starter

No Suarez? Reason?

Im always cautious this season.... as we all know just how important Suarez is for us now. We would have to play a bit different and hope it works. Atletico not as strong as last season but still they can match anyone on their day....

Suarez had discomfort after the Bayern game and is training individually ever since

Not a must win game so I hope he sits out.

Not a do or die game for Atletico also, they are 4 points clear and can comfortably beat Granada on the last matchday so I there's hoping they don't play like thugs again

Oops...din know they have a 4 point lead over Valencia...yeah, then i think its evenly for both of us...

Suarez trained normally with group this morning, no word yet if he plays.

hope we finish this tomorrow

Line-up Barcelona (official): Bravo - Alves Pique Mascherano Alba - Rakitic Busquets Iniesta - Messi Neymar Pedro

Pedro is so out of sync with Messi and Neymar that it isn't pretty.

Boring game everybody is just too relaxed. Seems like a friendly match players are instructed not to injury themselves

Campeones.

Madrid, cabron, saluda al campeon!!!

It's the La Liga title.



Many congratulations team Barcelona!!!

Now rest everyone for next week's La Liga, then on to the cup and finally the trophy with the big ears.

Let's win the treble.

Visca Barca!!!

Congrats

two weeks rest for the league cup
congrats guys crazy season we just had..

3 titles in 4 months  What a great 4 months
Though i dont love Enrique but i was happy to see him celebrating. I'm happy for him just because he is so happy now
Glad CR scored hatrick.Now Messi can rest against deportivo and be ready for the final