Three days after a gut-wrenching exit from the UEFA Champions League, Atlético de Madrid welcome FC Barcelona to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in a crucial match amid LaLiga’s title race.
Atlético Madrid (16-8-3, 56 points) remain alive in two competitions (three if you count the “FIFA Club World Cup”, a time-saving expression for a collection of financial interests in the United States); while debate continues to swirl over Wednesday’s controversial penalty shootout loss to Real Madrid, the Rojiblancos realize that a win over Barcelona (18-3-5, 57 points) on Sunday night will lift them above the Catalans into second place.
“We are concerned about everything (relating to Barcelona), they are a very complete team, they are a brilliant team, they have managed this last week well,” Diego Simeone told reporters on Saturday.
Atlético have not won a home match against Barcelona since 2021, and Simeone faces an important challenge in motivating his players following the dramatic nature (shall we say) of Wednesday’s Champions League elimination. Simeone on Saturday told the media that the Atleti dressing room continues to feel “anger, rage, and injustice” over Julián Alvarez’s disallowed penalty — but with a first domestic double in 29 years still in play, Atleti will have to weaponize those hurt feelings against the free-scoring Blaugrana, who will return to the Metropolitano on April 2 for the Copa del Rey semifinal second leg.
“We have to hold on to this pain (from Wednesday’s game), because it will allow us to play for what is coming and what we want, which is to win the league,” Rodrigo De Paul told Latin American channel DSports.
Team news
First, the absences. Ángel Correa begins serving his five-game suspension on Sunday, and it will be a month before we see him again; captain Koke still is not fit, although he trained with the group this week and was named in the initial squad to face Real Madrid.
However, De Paul trained normally during Atlético’s Saturday evening session at the Metropolitano, and the team’s “motor” is poised to hold down his place in the starting 11 come Sunday. That is huge news for Simeone; among all players in LaLiga, De Paul ranks fourth in progressive passes, seventh in passes completed into the penalty area, and 12th in passes completed into the final third.
As has been the case in recent months, the biggest question will be what Simeone decides to do at left-back. Javi Galán did not play a single minute on Wednesday, and Lamine Yamal ran him ragged when Atlético visited Barcelona in the cup. Reinildo was great against Madrid in midweek, but he was substituted in the first half of extra time with what appeared to be a knock. However, Reinildo has been included in Sunday’s squad list — if he is good to go, I bet he starts again, but I cannot rule out Galán or Samuel Lino (if Cholo opts to switch to a five-man defense) entering the game at some point.
Marcos Llorente ran for 120 minutes and missed a penalty on Wednesday, but I don’t think Simeone can start Nahuel Molina against Raphinha. I expect Clément Lenglet will continue to be preferred to Spain international Robin Le Normand, and Conor Gallagher should keep his place after he scored the game’s only goal in midweek.
Simeone was asked Saturday whether Alexander Sørloth would start, given the Norwegian’s excellent record against this opponent, and seeing as Alvarez played 120 minutes against Madrid while Antoine Griezmann struggled to make it past 85. Cholo was non-committal about his forward pair; it wouldn’t be a shock if one of them came off the bench, but this is the most important game of Atlético’s league season to date, so I think Simeone will keep them both in the lineup.
Predicted Atlético de Madrid 11 Oblak; Llorente, Giménez, Lenglet, Reinildo; Barrios, De Paul, Gallagher, Giuliano; Griezmann, Alvarez.
Predicted Barcelona 11 Szczęsny; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Baldé; De Jong, Pedri; Olmo; Yamal, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
