Here are our picks for Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

If Barca were to lose, they would be at a serious disadvantage against Real Madrid and could even lose the title to Xavi.

On Sunday night at 9pm, Atlético Madrid will visit Barcelona for the top match of the weekend in La Liga. The defending champions are level on points with Atlético (31) but have played one more game than their opponents.

Real Madrid did their bit on Saturday to move 7 points clear of Barca, meaning it’s crucial for Xavi to get the three points or else the league could be lost.

Team news

And Barca are not in top form at all, with a steady stream of games coming down to the wire. Barca struggled against Porto in midweek, going behind, but goals from Joao, Cancelo and Félix turned things around and they progressed from the group, something they haven’t done since Messi’s departure.

As for the absentees, number one goalkeeper Ter Stegen is still ailing, as is Gavi, who is out for the season, but what will really hurt Xavi is that Cancelo has pulled out, so he will also be out.

Atlético also won in the BL, in Rotterdam, and the 3 points also meant qualification. In the league, they put Mallorca on two shoulders last weekend and it was Simeone’s side’s 8th league win from the last 10 rounds. The Matracos continue to be without Vitolo, Reinildo, Thomas Lemar and Memphis Depay through injury.

What is worth betting on?

The bookmakers have Barca as favourites for this match (2.00), but we don’t see much value in this odds. We don’t expect good football on Sunday night at all, Barca have serious problems in selling situations and their attacking build-up is often difficult and cumbersome, and against Atlético they need to play fast and accurate.

We don’t expect anything new from Simeone’s team, we foresee a precisely organised defence, tightly-coordinated team parts and dangerous counter-attacks and point kicks.

Considering that the teams played two one-goal matches last season, the bookmakers have set their goal limits quite high.

None of Barca’s last 5 matches that can be called a rivalry have produced 4 or more goals, we don’t think it’s very likely that the goal bag will be broken against AtMA.

We’ve looked at two picks for the match, a single Asian goal bet on the 2.75 limit for the counter and a betting builder tip also on the goals against, spiced up with the number of team cards.

✅ Prediction #1: Number of goals under 2.75 @ 1.85

✅ Prediction #2: Number of goals under 3.5 + Both teams get at least two lapot@1.89

Betting deadline: 3 December 21:00