Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona, La Liga: Team News, Preview, Lineups, Score Prediction

Atlético de Madrid (3rd, 56pts) vs FC Barcelona (2nd, 57pts)

Competition/Round: 2024-25 La Liga, Matchday 28

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal (out), Ansu Fati (doubt)

Atlético Madrid Outs & Doubts: Ángel Correa (out), Rodrigo De Paul, Koke, Reinildo (doubt)

Date/Time: Sunday, March 16, 2025, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 4pm ET, 1pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Monday)

Venue: Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain

Referee: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoechea

VAR: Javier Iglesias Villanueva

How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), SuperSport (Nigeria), ITV 4, Premier Sports 2 (UK), others

How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), ITVX, LaLigaTV (UK), GXR World (India), DAZN (Spain), others

Following a commanding win over Benfica to book a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals in midweek, Barcelona travel to the Spanish capital for the biggest La Liga match of the season so far as they face Atlético Madrid at the Estadio Metropolitano on Sunday Night Fútbol.

There’s no way to overstate the importance of this game and the consequences it’ll have for the title race. Barça currently have a one-point lead with a game in hand over Atlético and could open up a four-point edge, and if they win by two or more goals they would also claim the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Simply put, the Catalans can essentially land a knockout blow to Atleti’s title chances, which is why the Colchoneros will treat this as a Cup final in front of their home fans to try and overtake Barça in the standings and stay alive in the championship hunt going into the final international break of the season.

Diego Simeone and his troops are coming off a heartbreaking loss on penalties to Real Madrid which knocked them out of the Champions League, and Barça have the rest advantage having played one day earlier while Atleti went through 120 minutes of extremely demanding football, both physically and mentally.

But if there’s one team that can rebound from heartbreak and use it as fuel and motivation, it is Atleti. They also have a ton of talent, with Julián Álvarez playing the best football of his young career in 2025 and a supporting cast that remains very hard to break down defensively while also offering a real threat going the other way.

Barça know the challenge that awaits them and must be ready for a battle for all 90 minutes, and they must learn the lessons from their insane 4-4 draw in the Copa del Rey 20 days ago: Atlético scored twice early and twice late despite being dominated for 70-plus minutes, so the Catalans cannot switch off for a single moment.

Hansi Flick’s men were by far the better side in their first two meetings this season but haven’t won yet, so Sunday is the perfect chance to finally finish the job and take a monster step towards winning the title.

Let’s dance.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-2-1-3): Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Olmo; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha

Atlético (4-4-2): Oblak; Llorente, Giménez, Lenglet, Galán; Simeone, De Paul, Barrios, Lino; Griezmann, Álvarez

PREDICTION

Atlético will certainly come out firing to try and catch Barça off guard early again, but I’m expecting the Catalans to manage the game well and use their fitness advantage to take over in the second half: 2-1 to the good guys.

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