FC Barcelona would be looking to avoid a second succesive league defeat tomorrow when they face Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon. This trip for sometime have been a very unpleasant one. The last two league visit to Vicente Calederon ended up with away defeats. So the chances of ending up on Sunday night with two successive league defeats is pretty high. Atletico Madrid is currently is lying at the top of the table and I have to admit that this is the best Atletico side for sometime. But we still have to wait a bit to consider them as genuine title contender. Away matches against everyone has been always the problem for Atletico and the mid-week's Europa League encounter was no different. Atletico Madrid usually stumbles early on the season and then makes a late surge to end up in a decent position. But this season looks a bit different. But still its always better to play Atletico at the Vicente Calderon this early in the season. To all their attacking credibilities, they looked pretty vulnerable in defense. Kun Aguera, always a thorn for Barca is struggling with his fitness and is in a race to be fit for this match. But I have a feeling that he will be there from the start.
Barca vs Atletico Promises plenty of goals
Atletico Madrid vs Barca ties are never short of action. Plenty of goals have been scored in recent times in these encounters by both teams. That will be something which worries Guardiola a lot. Even in the 5-1 thrashing of Pananthanaikos, the defense showed signs of occasional rustiness. Any repeat of the same will be Christmas coming early for Forlan and company. Guardiola is expected to field his strongest eleven for this match. But I would play a little with the defense. I would move Puyol to left back(thsi would most probably happen as Abidal is set to miss Atletico Trip), have Milito and Pique in the centre and Alves on the right. That shores up the defense a lot. Milito was excellent and looked more composed than anyone else whne he came in for last 15 minutes against Pananthanaikos. A look at Atletico Madrid clearly identifies their strength - their atatck, and it becomes essential to neautralise that. Guardiola has successfully tried this against Real Madrid on the visit to Bernebeu. With their defense our boys are expected to score and what they may need most is a composed defense to win them more balls. The restof the side I would like Guardiola to keep it as same. Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets in the midfield and Messi, Pedro and Villa upfront. This always have been one of the most difficult away trips for Barca. But a simple look at the recent results shows a picture that Barca has done better when visiting Vicente Calderon early in the season. And I am definitely going to hang on to that. There will be goals and planty of the and I predict a Barca victory with a scoreline of 4-2.