La Liga: Athletico de Madrid vs. Barcelona

Posted on | May 15, 2007 | No Comments

This is going to be the match of the week. If Athletico de Madrid win, they will almost certainly hand archrivals Real Madrid the title. If they don’t win, they could jeopardise their chances of qualifying for next year’s UEFA cup. A tough call to make for Athletico fans!
Athletico de Madrid come into this game on a high after their impressive four one away win to an in form Getafe. They have been in danger of losing their sixth place in the league and this victory came at just the right time and against a direct rival, too. Fernando Torres scored twice and had an excellent game. There is lots of talk at the moment of Athletico’s talisman star player leaving in the summer and heading for the premier, even though President Enrique Cerezo keeps denying it. He might not be the only player out the door either, as Athletico want to create a team strong enough to compete in two competitions at the same time.
As for Barcelona, they seem to have caught a dose of ‘Galatic-itus’. The same disease that has effected for the last couple of years. Their big name stars -principally Ronaldhino and Eto’o- are at logger heads and have spilt the dressing room. Morale is down following their humiliating exit from the King’s cup on Thursday at the hands of Getafe, and to make matters even worse on Sunday they conceded a late goal to allow lowly Betis take home a point from the Camp Nou. This allowed Real Madrid to steal their first position spot in the league which has angered a lot of Barca’s fans.
Barcelona need to make a good impression in this game and the three points are an absolute necessity. Unfortunately, Athletico de Madrid is perhaps one of the worst clubs they could have faced at the moment. Barca never seem to have much luck against them, and in the last five games have only taken two points. To find the last win for the Catalans in the Calderon stadium, you will have to go back to the year 2000, when they won three goals to nil.
Expect quite a few changes in Barcelona’s starting line up this weekend. Coach Frank Rijkaard is expected to alter his preferred 4-3-3 formation to a more stable 4-4-2. He might even leave Ronaldhino on the bench.
I think Athletico will keep all three points in the Calderon stadium here. Barcelona seem to be all used up; their players are tired and lack the determination needed to take on teams like Athletico.
Prediction: Home win (2-1)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Barcelona vs. Athletico de Madrid
2. La Liga: Getafe vs. Athletico de Madrid
3. La Liga: Athletico Madrid vs. Valladolid
4. La Liga: Real Sociedad vs. Athletico Madrid
5. La Liga: Athletico Madrid vs. Sevilla

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