Two of the top four teams in the La Liga table square off on Sunday as FC Barcelona heads north to take on Atletico Madrid. Barcelona is in a tie with Real Madrid with 28 points, although Barcelona holds the tiebreaker with more wins. Atletico Madrid is three points back with 25 points — with seven draws in 14 games. One of those draws came last week, as Atletico settled for a 1-1 tie at Granada. Barcelona won last week, taking a 2-1 victory at Leganes, as the league leaders have lost just one time this season. Can Atletico get a statement win at home? Or will Barcelona get an important road win against a fellow La Liga contender? Don’t lock in your online betting on his match until you read our insights.
Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona 2019 La Liga Odds & Game Preview
[] Hey, #AtléticosAroundTheWorld!
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) December 1, 2019
What are your score predictions for #AtletiBarça?
⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/z2mOZNFmqn
- When: Sunday, December 1, 2019, 4:00 pm ET
- Where: Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid
- TV: None (USA)
- Radio: None
- Live Stream: fuboTV
- Soccer Odds: Atletico Madrid 7/4 / Draw 23/10
Why should you bet on Atletico?
Atletico followed up their draw with Granada with a loss in Italy against Juventus. Atletico played well on defense, and they launced 15 shots in that match, but only two of them were on target as they made life fairly easy for Juventus’ defense. The only Juventus goal came on an incredible free kick from Paulo Dybala, who curled in a free kick from a bad angle. Atletico actually had the better scoring chances, but Thomas Partey and Saul Niguez both failed to convert on makeable chances. Alvaro Morata also failed to reach a cross in stoppage time that would have gone into an open net.
If you like Atletico here, you see them playing the same stifling defense that helped them stay so close to Juventus while putting a goal or two into the back of the Barcelona net. The problem with this is that Atletico has not been able to put consistent offense together against teams further down the La Liga table, so you have to wonder how they would do this against the team at the top.
Why should you put your money on Barcelona?
In addition to their win at Leganes in La Liga play last week, Barcelona also picked up a big win in the middle of the week, stopping Borussia Dortmund, 3-1, at home. Barcelona only possessed for 46 percent of the match, but the scoring chances that they created did the job. Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann all scored, giving the team a huge boost in momentum.
The two teams last met in April, up at Camp Nou in Barcelona, with the hosts rolling to a 2-0 win. Suarez and Messi had the tallies in that match, but the score did not indicate the dominance that Barcelona showed in the match. Atletico Madrid is playing much better defense than they did earlier in the season, but they have not shown the offensive firepower that they need to win matches like this one. The fact that they are picking up so many draws is a testament to their back line, but failing to win games like their match against Granada shows that their attack needs to improve as well.
Final Score Prediction
These two teams are among the contenders in La Liga, and while Atletico is struggling on offense now, eventually they should click, given their personnel, as they have clicked on defense. I’m not sure whether this is the week for their offense to take off, though. I do see Atletico putting up a tough fight at home, drawing encouragement from their ability to shut down Juventus’ offense, giving Cristiano Ronaldo a quiet game this past week. I see Barcelona finding a way through the Atletico defense at least once, but I also see Atletico’s effort paying off. I predict a final score of Barcelona 1, Atletico 1.
