Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona (preview)

 It’s a big night in Spain as Atletico Madrid host FC Barcelona in a quarter-final second leg Uefa Champions League fixture, with the hosts having an away goal advantage, but Barcelona have the precious three points as the first leg ended Barcelona 2 – 1 Atletico Madrid

                                           Atlético Madrid v FC Barcelona: Comeback victory at the Calderón, 2–1.

Diego Simone’s men will need to put in an almighty performance to get into the final four of

Europe’s elite competition. However, Barcelona have suffered a huge setback ahead of this fixture as defenders Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen are both ruled out through injury, as too is Rafinha who suffered a knock in training. Atletico are not exempted as Uruguyan centre-back José Giménez is yet to recover from a hamstring problem. The biggest set-back for Diego Simone’s team is that Fernando Torres who scored Atletico’s vital away goal at the Camp Nou will not be in action, no thanks to the red card he received in the first leg. Barça go into the game on the back of a disappointing league defeat to Real Sociedad but last week’s 2 – 1 win over Atletico gives them a boost going into tonight’s second leg.

On the other hand, Atletico managed to capitalise on Barça’s second straight loss on the weekend with a 3 – 1 win at Espanyol . Tonight’s match would be epic and a lone goal will be just enough to put Atletico through to the semi-final.