Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

As far as the title race goes, this has the feel of a must-win game for both teams. If Atleti are to retain any realistic hope of winning La Liga, they have to win this and it could act as a real springboard for the remainder of their campaign. A draw isn’t much good for Barcelona either though, as they look to close the gap on Real Madrid, so we should see both coaches going for it and that ought to lead to a relatively open game with several goals.

Defeat here would really leave Barcelona’s season in crisis and it’s difficult to understate how poor they’ve been in their last two matches. They were fortunate to beat a hopelessly out of form Leganes side last weekend and only mustered two more shots than their lowly opponents. A response was really needed in that game after their humiliation in Paris but they didn’t get it and a repeat level of performance here would surely see this end in a comfortable home win.

However, this is Barcelona and there is still an enormous amount of quality in their ranks. They are one of the only sides that has consistently caused problems for an impressive Atleti defence in recent years and they do boast a strong recent record at the Vicente Calderon in La Liga. Atleti have looked fragile at the back in recent weeks without injured centre-back Diego Godin and have gone 4 games without a clean sheet, so at the very least Barcelona should have some joy in the final third here. They’ve netted 2.92 goals per game away this term, which is more than they’ve managed at Camp Nou.

At the other end though, the pace of Atleti’s forwards could be a big threat. Things have just started to click for Kevin Gameiro, following his big money summer move from Sevilla. He netted a blistering 5 minute hat-trick last week in Gijon with some clinical finishes and added another in Leverkusen on Tuesday. His confidence levels will have received a huge boost as a result and backing Gameiro to score anytime at 7/4 looks good here.

Atleti have the reputation of being a defensive side, which may be a little unfair, but it certainly hasn’t been like that in recent matches. They’ve thrown caution to the wind and it has paid off with 11 goals in their last 3 matches, including that 4-2 win at Bayer in the Champions League, which would have been a huge boost coming into this game. Atleti have scored a decent 2.27 goals per game at home this term, which is an improvement and they are playing well enough to cause an out of sorts Barcelona side plenty of problems.

Therefore, this game looks like one that should produce a fair few chances for both sides and backing Over 2.5 goals at 19/20 looks to offer value.