FC Barcelona travel to Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey Semi-Final First Leg
Barcelona face Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final as they attempt to win the Copa del Rey for the third year running.
Form
The Catalans are on a good run of form. However, the shock draw against Real Betis at the weekend halts their winning run. Prior to that game, Barcelona had won their last five games. However, they are unbeaten in the last seven games in all competitions. The last loss was away in the Copa del Rey against Athletic Bilbao. Atlético Madrid are unbeaten in their last five games. Despite this, the last three have been draws with the most recent one being against Deportivo Alavés. Their last loss came against Las Palmas at home in the Copa del Rey.
Squads
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Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta are both still out due to injury. Lucas Digne is also out due to some knee discomfort. Marc-André ter Stegen has been left out of the squad due to Luis Enrique’s policy of rotating the goalkeepers. In terms of good news, Rafinha is back for this match, which increases the amount of options in midfield. Atlético Madrid also have injuries to key players to deal with. Jan Oblak, José Giménez, Augusto Fernández and Tiago are all out. This means that the spine of their team is severely weakened because each of those players has an important role in the team due to their experience, and the first two would be definite starters for this match. Thomas Teye Partey is unavailable for this match due to suspension.
The absence of Busquets and Iniesta for this match is huge. The reason is because they are both vital in playing around the opposition press, and recycling the possession quickly in order to create openings. Iniesta’s creativity is key in breaking down the defence due to his ability to link up play. He can also provide the crucial pass through the defence to break the opposition lines. Lucho will be hoping that players can step up in their absence. As always, Lionel Messi will be crucial in performing the functions that both those players usually do, for this match.
History
Recent history between the two favours Barcelona, but Atlético have a habit of winning key games. Atletico have knocked the Catalans out of the Champions League twice in the past three years. In terms of the Copa del Rey, Barça have won the last four meetings with Atlético winning the game before that which was all the way back in 2000. The last five games in all competitions between the two have featured thirteen goals, and the last ten have had twenty-six goals. Therefore, a clean average of 2.6 goals per game, so not a huge amount of goals the majority of the time, but there hasn’t been a goalless draw in the last twelve games.
Playing Style
Diego Simeone seems to have gone back to the pragmatic defensive style that served him so well over the past few years. At the beginning of the season, Atlético were playing more of an open attacking style. This suited the Antoine Griezmann and Kévin Gameiro combination. However, it wasn’t bringing the desired results. Recently, they have reverted back to their defensively solid 4-4-2 formation which has brought back the clean sheets. However, they were always likely to play defensive against Barcelona because they did that earlier in the season when the two teams played.
When playing against Barça they like to press high up the pitch in stages. They often do this at the beginning of both halves in order to prey on the Barcelona players getting up to the tempo of the game. In the other parts of the game, they like to sit deep with two banks of four. This will try to force Barcelona’s play down the wings. Atletico rely on deadly counter-attacks in this stage of the game with players such as Yannick Carrasco being key due to his pace and directness.
The key to beating Atlético is a quick shift of play around the outside of the opposition box to the opposite wing. This happens to create an overlap or 1v1 situation. Then, a player can reach the byline and either pull the ball back to someone in the middle or at the edge of the box or fire the ball between the defenders and the goalkeeper in order to create chaos.
The absence of key players, and the fact that Atlético have home advantage means that this game is likely to be a draw with Barcelona taking the away goal advantage into the second leg.
Prediction: Atlético Madrid 1-1 FC Barcelona
Predicted Lineup
Denis Suárez instead of Rafinha and Ivan Rakitić instead of André Gomes are both possibilities.