Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid: Match preview, predicted line-ups, team news and prediction

Barcelona host Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final clash at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

La Blaugrana thrashed Newcastle United 8-3 on aggregate in the last 16, while Los Rojiblancos defeated Tottenham Hotspur 7-5 on aggregate to reach this stage of the competition.

Match preview 

Both sides faced off in La Liga on Saturday, with Barcelona claiming a narrow 2-1 victory to extend their lead at the summit to seven points.

Giuliano Simeone opened the scoring in the 39th minute to give the hosts the lead before Marcus Rashford restored parity for Barcelona in the 42nd minute.

Atletico were reduced to 10 men before half-time as Nicolas Gonzalez was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

In the 87th minute, the visitors capitalised on the numerical advantage, and Robert Lewandowski scored the winner to extend Barcelona’s lead at the summit to seven points following Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat at RCD Mallorca.

Barcelona finished the league phase with a solid record of 5 wins, 1 draw, and 2 defeats, accumulating enough points to comfortably progress to the knockout rounds.

In the round of 16, the Catalan side delivered a dominant performance against Newcastle, winning 8-3 on aggregate, including a convincing second-leg display at home to seal qualification for the quarter-finals.

Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 25 games against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou across all competitions (W17 D8).

Atletico have enjoyed a strong yet occasionally inconsistent Champions League campaign, having finished the league phase with 4 wins, 1 draw, and 3 defeats to progress into the knockout rounds via the play-offs.

In the knockout phase play-offs, Los Rojiblancos produced one of their most entertaining ties of the season, defeating Club Brugge 7-4 on aggregate, including a thrilling 4-1 second-leg victory at home.

Diego Simeone’s side carried that momentum into the last 16, where they delivered a statement performance against Tottenham, winning 7-5 on aggregate.

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will meet for a fifth time in European competition, with all five coming at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League (2013/14 and 2015/16 previously).

Team news

Frenkie de Jong, Andreas Christensen and Marc Bernal are sidelined with injuries for the hosts, while Ronald Araujo has been passed fit for this clash after shaking off the injury that forced him off against Atletico last time out.

Jan Oblak, Marc Pubill and Rodrigo Mendoza have returned to full team training and could feature for Atletico in this fixture.

However, Pablo Barrios is unavailable with injury, while Johnny Cardoso and Jose Gimenez are doubts for the visitors.

Predicted line-ups 

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): J. Garcia, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martin, Cancelo, E. Garcia, Pedri, Yamal, Fermin, Rashford, Lewandowski.

Atletico Madrid (4-2-3-1): Oblak, Llorente, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri, Koke, Baena, Simeone, Griezmann, Lookman, Alvarez.

Prediction: Barcelona 3-2 Atletico Madrid.