Tuesday the 1st of April 2014 . | BARCELONA (CET), 20:45 | LOS ANGELES (PDT), 11:45 | MONTREAL (EDT), 14:45 | LONDON (BST), 19:45 | MELBOURNE (AEDT), 05:45 (NEXT DAY) CAMP NOU BARCELONA Past Meetings • Barcelona have hosted Atlético 105 times before in all competitions with a record of 60 home wins, 19 Atlético victories and 26 draws. • Their last Camp Nou encounter in the Liga brought a 4-1 win for Barcelona in December 2012. Radamel Falcao gave Atlético a 30th-minute lead but the hosts hit back through Adriano, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi (2). • The last two-legged encounter between the sides came in this season's Spanish Super Cup last August, when reigning Liga champions Barcelona beat Cup winners Atlético on away goals after following up a 1-1 draw in Madrid – where Neymar cancelled out David Villa's strike with his first goal in Spain – with a 0-0 draw at the Camp Nou. 2nd Leg 1st Leg • It also finished goalless when the teams faced each other at the Vicente Calderón in the Liga on 11 January this year. The lineups were:Atlético: Courtois, Juanfran, Godín, Miranda, Filipe Luís, Tiago (Rodríguez 82), Gabi, Arda Turan, Koke, Villa (García 77), Diego Costa. Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Mascherano, Piqué, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta (Messi 46), Pedro (Sergi Roberto 82), Sánchez (Neymar 67), Fàbregas. • Barcelona won the sides' most recent two-legged Copa del Rey encounter 5-2 on aggregate in the 2008/09 round of 16. • Atlético's last win at Barcelona was a 3-1 Liga success in February 2006, with Maxi Rodríguez and Fernando Torres (2) scoring. • Simeone was in the Atletico team that beat a Barcelona side including Carles Busquets – father of current Barça midfielder Sergio –1-0 after extra time in the 1996 Copa del Rey final. That is one of just two cup finals contested by the two teams; the first back in 1926 finished 3-2 to Barcelona. Match Background • Four-time winners Barcelona are competing in a record-equalling seventh consecutive UEFA Champions League quarter-final. Overall, this is their 16th European Cup quarter-final and they have a record of 13 wins and two defeats. They had no quarter-final stage to negotiate when reaching the final in 1991/92 and 1993/94. • Atlético have not been at this stage since 1996/97 when a side including Simeone lost 4-3 on aggregate to AFC Ajax. Atlético's overall quarter-final record is three wins and two defeats from five appearances. • Barcelona last faced a fellow Liga outfit in Europe when defeating Real Madrid in the 2010/11 semi-finals. Josep Guardiola's side won 2-0 in Madrid – Messi scoring twice – before a 1-1 draw back in Barcelona. • The Catalan club have recorded four wins and five losses from nine two-legged ties against Spanish rivals in UEFA competition. They also lost the 2006 UEFA Super Cup 3-0 to Sevilla FC in Monaco. • On the two previous occasions that Barcelona beat a compatriot club in the European Cup, they reached the final – in 2011 after overcoming Madrid, and, before that, after bettering the same opponents 4-3 on aggregate in the 1960/61 first round. • Atlético have a strong record in UEFA competition ties against fellow Spanish clubs. Two seasons ago they beat Athletic Club 3-0 in the UEFA Europa League final, having seen off Valencia CF 5-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals. They also defeated Valencia en route to winning the same competition in 2010, prevailing on away goals in the quarter-finals with a 2-2 away draw before a stalemate at the Vicente Calderón. • Excluding the UEFA Intertoto Cup, Atlético's only defeat in four previous two-legged European ties against compatriot clubs came against Madrid back in the 1958/59 European Cup semi-finals. After both teams traded home wins, the Merengues won a replay in Zaragoza 2-1. • With their 2-1 home victory against Manchester City FC last time out, Barcelona maintained their 100% home record at the Camp Nou in the 2013/14 competition. They have lost just one of their last 26 European home outings, winning 20. • Atlético are unbeaten on their travels in this season's competition with three wins – including their 1-0 success at AC Milan in the round of 16 – and a draw.General Stats + Scoring TimesPlayer StatsPrevious Match Stats
Any win is a good result, and any win with a clean sheet a great result. I'd start with the well-worked "big matches" line up of Pinto, Alves, Pique, Masch, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta, Messi and Neymar. ...which would be rough for Pedro and Alexis. Either one of them in place of Neymar is a fine choice as well, and I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them (or even both) starting. Lots of good options, like should. The default expectation I think for the two matches is that it will be very tight, but that Barca will eventually advance, and I myself expect just that.
Failed to beat them in last 3 meets... even a narrow win is a good result. Lose this game means our chance to win the title would be depend on AM remaining game result. Neymar might want to proof himself as the better "Brazillian" forward
This is probably the most difficult of the draws. It's going to be heated and could get ugly.. But barca experience as shown with mancity, will come through again. Barca will advance over 2 legs
except the first two meets consisted of a victorious two-legged tie for us. and getting a draw away to the team that is now leading la liga is also a positive result. so i wouldn't describe our last three meets as failures at all - it's more ATM who have failed to beat us in last 3 meets.
Red = suspended for first leg. Remaining names are one booking away from missing second leg. Barça: Fàbregas Atlético: Raúl García, Insua
it's also worth remembering that we were not at our best in any of the past 3 meetings with ATM - while they were. the last liga match against them in the Calderon we started with: pedro---------cesc-----------alexis --------iniesta-----xavi------------- alba-----------busi------------alves --------masch-----pique------------ ----------------VV-------------------- so we started without messi, who was just returning from his injury rehab in argentina, and without neymar, who iirc had just returned from an extended holiday in brazil. other than missing valdes, our team is now much stronger than they were back in january with messi back to his best and neymar has also improved since then (not to mention iniesta has especially taken off in the past month or so). and back in the supercopa TaTa was still just getting to know the squad. so i'm not sure we can draw too many conclusions based on our past 3 meetings. barca is looking like a very different prospect than they did at the times of the other 3 matches against ATM.
Diego Costa looked like he pulled something (groin I think) at the end of this weekend's game. Any word on his status ? Would be a plus if he didn't play.
MARCA says Costa participated in the first part of Monday's training session but withdrew after ten minutes as the ball-work session was about to begin. Afterwards, Simeone told one Spanish tv station, "The doctors will assess his fitness, but I can't see him playing." Which means he'll probably play.
Great quote from Dani Alves in the customary Champions League press conference the day before the match: "It sometimes feels as if people are always trying to find a weakness in the team. If we win it's because of the referees, if we lose it's the end of an era."
gonna be one hell of a game... pinto, alves, mash, pique, alba, busquets, xavi, iniesta, neymar, messi, alexis.... OR i dunno if hes gonna wanna do the 4 midfielder thing which hasnt worked so badly for us recently. In any case..gonna be a tight encounter
I would say if we win, WE DONT want to concede, I rather take a goalless draw then a goalfull draw? If that is such a word
More from Dani's Monday presser: "We’ll have to have a word with Figo. The hot ball always goes to Barça. This is the second time. We've got the one nobody wanted. I hope next time he uses his left hand so that the luck changes. We always have to dance with the ugliest girl. But that's okay. Sometimes even the ugliest need to feel special."
Well at least you have the option to watch it without subscribing to another channel. They want to show Manchester United and Bayern in Canada on all their main channels (four). Anyhow, I would like to see Alexis play today, but I have a feeling it will be Neymar again.
They have played 3 games this season without beating AM so I'm gonna say a draw.. a 0-0 draw. Then hope for a 1-1 draw away..
Well ... Fox Soccer Plus is showing it as well and in HD. That's what I meant to say. I have FS2 in SD only as you do. I guess you don't get FSP.