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* Points and positions at the time of writing on Friday
Competition / Round: 2020-21 The league, Round 10
Barcelona Departures and doubts: Ansu Fati, Sergio Busquets, Ronald Araujo, Samuel Umtiti (out)
Athletic Outs & Doubts: Luis Suárez, Lucas Torreira, Héctor Herrera, Sime Vrsaljko (out), Stefan Savic, Diego Costa, Vitolo (doubt)
Date and Time: Saturday November 21, 2020, 9 pm CET / WAT (Barcelona and Nigeria), 8 pm GMT (UK), 3 pm ET, 12 pm PT (USA), 1.30 am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue of events: Metropolitan Wanda, Madrid Spain
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
WHERE: Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea
How to watch on television: beIN SPORTS (US and Canada), LaLigaTV (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), Not available (India), others
How to broadcast: FuboTV (US), Premier Player (UK), Facebook Live (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
After the last international break in 2020, Barcelona is back in action to start a crazy end-of-the-year agenda with a trip to the Metropolitan Wanda to face a red-hot Atlético de Madrid.
Diego Simeone’s team has been almost unstoppable to start the season, undefeated after seven games with a differential of more than 15 goals and a whopping 17 goals scored, an offensive outing that we don’t usually see in the Mattresses.
Barça legend Luis Suárez has been a great reason for Atleti’s good start, but Gunman comes out after multiple positive tests for Covid-19. Lucas Torreira, another Uruguayan who has played very well in his new team, is also out with the virus, and it remains to be seen how big his absences will be on Saturday.
But it’s still safe to assume that Atlético will look great on Saturday, and they remain excellent at home despite not having their big fans in the stadium. The defense is just as good, the attack looks amazing and this could be Simeone’s best chance to finally beat Barcelona in The league for the first time in his career.
Barça will begin a four-month period without Ansu Fati but have Philippe Coutinho back, and players like Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé are also expected to step up to replace Phenom. Antoine Griezmann has been playing better (despite the glitches) and Lionel Messi is Lionel Messi. Defense is always a problem, and inconsistency has been the subject of Ronald Koeman’s tenure until now.
the Blaugrana They have been terrible in big games under the Dutchman’s command, and this is the perfect opportunity to show their strength against arguably the best team in Spain at the moment. Atlético are a clear contender for the title, and a defeat would leave Barça within nine points after just eight games, and that could be too big a gap to bridge. So this is something that the Catalans must win AND they must do, and this should be a lot of fun.
Let’s Dance.
POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS
Barcelona (4-4-2): Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Dembélé, Pjanic, De Jong, Pedri; Messi, Griezmann
Athletic (4-4-2): Oblak; Trippier, Savic, Giménez, Hermoso; Correa, Kondogbia, Saúl, Koke; Llorente, João Félix
PREDICTION
Lionel Messi becomes Shawn Michaels every time he plays Atleti, and as good as him Mattresses This season I am still going to trust the Heartbreak Kid: 3-2 Barça.
