Everything Barca
Fansided

FC Barcelona host Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey Semi-Final Second Leg

By Benjamin Barkworth

ESTADIO VICENTE CALDERóN, MADRID, SPAIN - 2017/02/01: FC Basrcelona's players pose for media at prior of the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final first leg football match between Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid. (Photo by Jorge Sanz García/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
ESTADIO VICENTE CALDERóN, MADRID, SPAIN - 2017/02/01: FC Basrcelona's players pose for media at prior of the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) semi-final first leg football match between Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid. (Photo by Jorge Sanz García/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Barcelona go into their match with Atletico Madrid defending a 2-1 lead which gives them a big advantage due to the away goals.

Form

Barcelona go into this game on a run of nine games unbeaten with a total of seven wins in that period. This includes impressive wins against Real Sociedad away and Atlético Madrid away, which were both in the Copa del Rey. They are unbeaten at Camp Nou in all competitions since the beginning of October, and continuing this is important if they want to be successful this season.

Atlético Madrid have been in poor form prior to this match with only one win in their last five games. They are hard to beat with only two losses in ten games. However, one of them losses was against Barça in the first leg, so they are at a huge disadvantage going to this match away from home against the Catalans.

Squads

More from Analysis

Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Lucas Digne are back to full fitness, so they are all in the squad for the match. This is a huge boost going in to this crucial match due to the experience that Iniesta and Busquets bring as well as the increase in options for Luis Enrique. Gerard Piqué is also in the team, which was a potential doubt due to the knock he picked up against Athletic Bilbao. Rafinha is out injured due to a fractured cheekbone, and Neymar misses the match due to suspension. Marc-André ter Stegen has been left out of the squad as usual due to Jasper Cillessen having the goalkeeper berth in the Copa del Rey, and Jérémy Mathieu isn’t included in the matchday squad either.

In contrast, Atlético have injuries to key players throughout their squad. Jan Oblak, José Giménez, Augusto Fernández and Tiago are all out injured. This severely weakens the spine of the team, as Luis Suárez showed when he breezed past Stefan Savić, the replacement for Giménez, en route to scoring. Gabi also misses the match due to suspension, which is a blow for them due to him being at the heart of everything that Atleti do.

Next: Barcelona Transfer Rumours

History

Recent history between the two is dominated by Barcelona as mentioned in my preview for the first leg. Outside of the Champions League, the last time Los Colchoneros have won in this fixture was all the way back in 2010. However, they have picked up key results against Barça before, with a draw at the Camp Nou securing the La Liga title on the last day in the 2013/14 season as well as beating the Catalans over two legs in the Champions League in 2014 and 2016. Therefore, the Blaugrana need to keep in mind the danger that their opponents possess going in to this match.

SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN – JANUARY 19: Neymar Jr. of FC Barcelona celebrates with his teammate Andres Iniesta of FC Barcelona after scoring the opening goal during the Copa del Rey Quarter Final, First Leg match between Real Sociedad de Futbol and FC Barcelona at Estadio Anoeta on January 19, 2017 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN – JANUARY 19: Neymar Jr. of FC Barcelona celebrates with his teammate Andres Iniesta of FC Barcelona after scoring the opening goal during the Copa del Rey Quarter Final, First Leg match between Real Sociedad de Futbol and FC Barcelona at Estadio Anoeta on January 19, 2017 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images) /

Playing Style

Atleti will probably press high up the pitch at the beginning of the match in order to try and force a mistake and grab an early goal. This is key for them because they need to score a minimum of two goals to overturn Barcelona’s away goal advantage. Therefore, Barcelona need to ensure that they control the game, which will be made easier with the presence of Busquets, and they need to make sure they don’t do any silly defensive mistakes. The game against Bilbao had plenty of these, but the Basque team weren’t able to take advantage, so they should be on the back of the minds of the Barcelona players.

Being without Neymar is going to hinder them on the left side due to his excellent dribbling and link-up play. This means that Iniesta should be started in order to make up for this shortfall, and to make sure that they have a calm and composed passing option, able to deal with the Atlético high press, between the defence and attack. Arda Turan would be a good replacement for Neymar in this match because of his willingness to track back and be a part of the 4-4-2 defensive shape as well as his ability to fluidly interchange with Lionel Messi and Suárez as part of the front three.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Lucas Digne and Javier Mascherano starting because Jordi Alba and Samuel Umtiti are both one booking away from suspension. Playing both of them is too much of a risk considering that they could miss the final, and Enrique has more than adequate replacements to call up. Messi is also one booking away from missing the final, but he has enough experience to ensure he doesn’t do anything to warrant a yellow card.

Prediction: FC Barcelona 2-0 Atlético Madrid

Predicted Lineup

Ivan Rakitić instead of Iniesta is a possibility.