¡Hola Culers! It’s almost Match Day!!!
On Saturday we are going to see two major heavyweights in La Liga battle it out for a spot in European Football next season. Barcelona are to travel to Madrid to face Atletico at the Wanda Metropolitano and their coach Diego Simeone. As Atletico try to maintain their unbeaten run in La Liga this season, Barcelona need a crucial win to have a good chance at fighting for the league title. Let’s take a look at the Lineups.
Tactics and Lineups:
Here is my Predicted XI for Atletico Madrid:
Since we know Suarez is missing this clash due to COVID-19, let’s take a look at some other key players for Atleti. Simeone will most likely line up his men in a 3-4-3 formation with the two outside midfielders dropping back to support and create a 5 man defense. Therefore, if Simeone wanted to start implementing 11 behind the ball, he could easily do so by subbing in Geoffery Kondogbia (acquired from Valencia) or Yannick Carrasco for a faster counter attack. In fact, I think Simeone will shift the formation to a 5-4-1, where either Joao Felix or Marcus Llorente will be the only forward slightly advanced in respect to the rest of the team until about the 50th or 60th minute:
*Notice how Felix is a bit further up the pitch to advance the counter due to his quick pace and decision making.
As we can see, the 2 holding midfielders drop back and the 2 outside midfielders essentially become full backs, (in the case of Saúl, he’ll drop in the centre-back position while Lodi pulls out wide on the left). Since Simeone needs an outlet for the counter, Joao Felix is most likely going to be the furthest up the pitch in order to accelerate an attack between him, Llorente, and Diego Costa. As far as injuries that concern the latter, Diego completed most of Wednesday training with ATM and Simeone will look for his main man to complete a full training session by Friday in order to be fit enough to play the 90 minutes in full.
Here’s the predicted Barca XI:
Finally, maybe just finally, we’ll be able to see Frenkie De Jong and Miralem Pjanic start in a La Liga match together. Busquets’ injury kind of came as a blessing in disguise, and now that he’s out for this clash, maybe Koeman will finally entrust Riqui Puig and Carles Aleñá with some minutes on the pitch. I would not be surprised if Koeman introduced either one of them around the 70th minute mark to support the stamina and pace of play, despite being in a smaller statute compared to Pjanic or FDJ. Messi starts for me and with Ansu Fati being out for the next 4-5 months, I think Koeman will entrust Pedri to an Iniesta LAM role as he will look to cut inside. Dembele has been phenominal these past few games, finding his form very well, but Griezmann is still an issue.
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For me, Griezmann should not be starting for Barcelona, with his past form in the last few games being my evidence for his benching. However, we don’t really have any suitable 9’s in the squad to replace him, unless we bring someone from the B squad. Then again, we didn’t have a pure 9 in 2011 but David Villa did his part very well, and I’m very sure you all remember his wonderstrike against Madrid in 2012-2013.
However, Koeman could find himself in a bit of a dilemma, as he might give youngster and American wonderkid Konrad de la Fuente a few minutes if the lead is significant enough, but it is critical to say: Any chance these youngsters get, (Pedri, Riqui, Alena, Konrad, Trincao), will be judged on performance. That performance will be crucial to how much they end up playing this season. As per subs, I think Koeman will bring in Dest, Puig, Braithewaite, Konrad, and Trincao
My Prediction
I do feel we’re going to witness a tight game, and if Koeman manages well and introduces his subs a little early in the second half, then we definitely have a good chance to win this game. If everything goes well. say Barcelona will take a 2-1 win and end Atleti’s unbeaten run. However, if players get tired or lazy, or Koeman doesn’t provide the right subs at the right time, then Atletico will finish Barcelona off with a 1-0 win at home at the Wanda. I also think this game is definitely a make or break for Barca. With more than 6-9 points between us and first place, we need the 3 points going into this game. Therefore, I do think Barca will deliver the win because they know the importance of this game.
What are your predictions for Saturday Night? Let me know what you thought about the article down below!!!
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