Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Prediction and Betting Tips: Which La Liga Giant Will Progress to Champions League Semis?

The Catalans have held the aces in recent meetings, winning three of the four meetings against their Spanish counterparts. 

Barca often prove a cut above the opposition in Catalonia and – having defeated Atletico 2-1 away in Madrid on Saturday to edge closer to the La Liga title – they will be confident of repelling Rojiblancos' challenge at Camp Nou.

Atletico have not been as defensively resolute as we have been accustomed to from Simeone's sides. In the last two knockout rounds, they have overcome Club Brugge 7-4 on aggregate before an equally entertaining 7-5 triumph over Tottenham.

The visitors drew 3-3 in Bruges and lost 3-2 at Tottenham, which means they have shipped exactly three times in five of their last six away games.

Antoine Griezmann, Julian Alvarez and Ademola Lookman provide Atleti's attacking quality. However, keeping pace with a rampant Barcelona side spearheaded by generational talent Lamine Yamal looks a formidable task.

That said, Barca have been breached in all ten Champions League matches this season, which includes home wins over Olympiakos, Eintracht Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Newcastle, and memories of their recent 4-0 win in the Copa del Rey will surely have Simeone’s men believing in themselves.

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Both sides are fantastic at home, while both have issues travelling, highlighted by the fact Atelti won 4-0 in the first leg of the Copa and Barca won the second leg 3-0, so this match should be a case of Simeone's men trying to stay in the tie in this first leg.

That said, a home win looks highly likely, with Barca winning 22 of 23 home games across all competitions this season

Barca are yet to keep a clean sheet at Camp Nou in the Champions League, with the likes of Olympiakos, Frankfurt and Copenhagen all finding the net in defeats, while we all watched Newcastle carve Barca open on numerous occasions only to concede seven.

Atletico have real counter-attacking capabilities and are highly capable of breaching the Barcelona high-line, and while they may concede multiple times, expect them to get on the scoresheet.

Marcus Rashford has been rejuvenated by his loan move to Barcelona and, with Raphinha set to miss out, he should get the nod on the left side of their attack.

The England international scored Barca’s equaliser in Saturday’s come-from-behind 2-1 win over Atletico and he has been in devastating form in the Champions League, scoring five goals and grabbing three assists in nine appearances.

Barcelona: (4-2-3-1)

J. García; Cancelo, E. García, Cubarsí, Koundé; Casadó, Pedri; F. López, Yamal, Rashford; Lewandowski.

Atletico Madrid: (4-4-2)

Oblak, Llorente, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri; Koke, Álex Baena, Simeone, Lookman; Sørloth, Alvarez.

The Catalan giants look set to be without Raphinha, who suffered a hamstring injury on international duty with Brazil, while Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen remain sidelined.

Marc Bernal limped off in Saturday’s win over Atletico and is likely to miss out.

Diego Simeone should be boosted by the return of first-choice goalkeeper Jan Oblak who was sidelined with a muscle injury in his side that has kept him out for weeks.

However, midfielder Rodrigo Mendoza remains out with an ankle problem, while Pablo Barrios is almost ready for a return from his thigh issue.