Atletico Madrid welcome FC Barcelona to the Estadio Vicente Calderon for this deciding leg that will determine who goes on to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona hold a slight advantage after Luis Suarez’s brace canceled out Fernando Torres’ opener in a game that was rife with controversial refereeing.
The Catalans are not in the best of form however after losing back to back games in the La Liga, first at home to Real Madrid and then away to Real Sociedad, which blew the title race wide open again with Atletico only three points behind Barca.
Diego Simeone’s men, on the other hand, are coming into this game off the back of a 3-1 win against Espanyol last Saturday with Torres scoring one and assisting another to cap off a fine display.
Unfortunately, Torres will not be available for this game after he was red-carded in the first leg, which means the burden for goals will rest mostly on the shoulders of Antoine Griezmann.
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The other Atletico players that will not play a part in this match due to injury include Jose Gimenez, Oliver Torres, and Stefan Savic.
Barcelona have had a great season to this point and they are still in contention for the treble but the last few weeks have been tough for them and they have regressed a bit.
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They only need a draw to qualify to the semi-finals but only a win will do for the hosts. Atletico’s impressive defensive record means they can defend an early 1-0 advantage to the last minute so Barca need to be weary of that.
Luis Enrique is expected to stick to the same starting XI that began the first leg at the Camp Nou. Jeremy Mathieu, Alex Vidal and Sandro Ramirez are unavailable due to injury.
Predicted lineups
