Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona will meet at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal. The match features the two teams that have won the last five editions of the tournament.
Barcelona, the reigning champion of the competition, has won 13 of 23 series against Atletico de Madrid, but it has failed to win in recent history against the “colchoneros.”
Barcelona has not forgotten that Atletico eliminated Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League in 2014 and 2016.
Both teams are trying to leave behind their bad weekend performances. Barcelona could not get pass Betis as they were held to a 1-1 tie on the road, while Atletico was held to a goalless draw in their visit to Alaves.
Real Madrid the leader of the domestic league benefited from these results, as they now have a four-point advantage over Barcelona and 10-point advantage over Atletico and they have a game in hand due to their December participation in FIFA Club World Cup.
Barcelona, Copa del Rey winner 28 times, will be missing key midfield pieces Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets with injuries, which will perhaps make them depend more than ever on their powerful offensive trident of Messi, Neymar and Suarez (leading La Liga goal scorer) to try and reach their fifth Copa del Rey final in the last six years.
In the last five years, Barcelona has just missed reaching the finals once and during that span the team own a 3-1 record.
Barcelona will be facing an Atletico team that is not at the top of its game (they have tied their last three games), but who is always dangerous when facing a knockout series.
Athetico head coach Diego Simeone, won’t have Uruguayan central defender Jose Maria Gimenez for this game due to a left leg injury, so he will try to focus the team efforts on the speed of Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco to earn at least a win before visiting the Camp Nou in Barcelona.
Atletico de Madrid has won 10 times the Copa del Rey tournament, but none since the 2012-13 season, when they defeated Real Madrid.
In the other game Celta de Vigo (who eliminated Real Madrid in the quarterfinal round) will host Alaves at Balaidos on Thursday.
Copa del Rey odds:
Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona:
Atletico +185
Barcelona +120
Draw +205
Celta vs Alaves:
Celta -165
Alaves +385
Draw +205
