La Liga: Barcelona vs. Athletico de Madrid

Posted on | October 3, 2007 | 2 Comments

A Barcelona – Athletico de Madrid game always brings good football, but not always for the local team. Athletico have taken something home from the Nou Camp stadium on their last three visits, and are the last team Barcelona would want to face at the moment. The local side did well in midweek beating Stuttgart by two goals to nil in Germany to put them top of their group in the Champions league. However, their football didn’t shine and it was up to Messi once again to lead the team to victory. Ronaldhino reappeared after his mysterious injury and had a discreet game, but the worst result from Barcelona’s point of view were the injuries to their defensive line. First Mexican Rafael Márquez had to go off with a muscle strain and could be out for up to two months. Charles Puyol came on for Márquez but didn’t have much luck either. Shortly after scoring the opening goal he also had to come off. This was only his second start after suffering a serious knee injury but this new injury isn’t thought to be as bad. Problems for coach Frank Rijkaard then, who is going to have to reconstruct his defense in order to stop the likes of Diego Forlan and ‘El Kun’ Agüero. The latter is having a fantastic season so far, having already scored five goals in six games. The loss of Fernando Torres to Liverpool is becoming less evident in every game and they are now in fifth position, having lost just once. That defeat was in the opening game of the season against archrivals Real Madrid and they now have gone five consecutive matches without losing. Quite unusual for Athletico de Madrid. Barca have three points more than Athletico and are in fourth place, so this game is going to prove very important to both sides. Another curious detail is that both teams have scored eight goals in their last three matches, and conceded almost the same.

I can see Athletico going all out to win this match. If they can manage to cancel out Messi they will achieve the three points, too. Barca’s defense is going to be in pieces because of their injured players and the absence of Touré Yaya in midfield will make a huge difference. I am going to stick my head out yet again and go for the away win. While Barcelona are playing better than at the start of the season, they seem to be relaying on Messi’s skills more and more every game. Thierry Henry scored a hat trick against Levante last week which would have helped his morale, but against Stuttgart he was pretty much lost again. So an away win and watch out for Forlan getting the first goal.

Prediction: Away win (1-3)

Related posts:

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

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