Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona 02/12/19

2 December 2019

Atletico Madrid can leapfrog second-placed Barcelona in the La Liga (LL) table if they pull off a win when the two sides face off at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano this weekend.

The hosts sit three points adrift of Barcelona ahead of the kick-off, but they come into this match after racking up a ten-game unbeaten LL run (W3, D7). With the Cholo-style grit running through their veins, Diego Simeone’s men have struggled to entertain the fans in that sequence, with nine of those ten matches featuring under 2.5 goals. Although undefeated in all seven of their LL home outings this season (W4, D3), Los Colchoneros last outplayed Barcelona in a top-flight home H2H encounter nine years ago. In fact, the Madrid giants have six of their previous nine LL home H2Hs with Barca (D3, L3), with both of their last such meetings ending with the same 1-1 scoreline.

Meanwhile, the Catalans have not enjoyed the strongest of starts to their LL away campaign, losing three of their opening seven league away games (W3, D1, L3). What’s more, two of those defeats saw Barcelona draw a blank while two came via a two-goal margin too. While they remain LL’s best with 35 goals scored, only 28% of those goals have come on the road (10). For the reigning holders, clean sheets have been at a premium away from home so far, as they’ve shut out their opponents just twice in seven LL trips this term. It seems unlikely that the Blaugrana can improve that record here, considering they allowed at least one goal in each of their last six competitive trips to Madrid.