Three of the last eight teams standing in the Champions League are not surprisingly the Spanish clubs from La Liga, and at least one is guaranteed a spot in the semifinals of the tournament. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid know all about each other, and they'll really be in for a war when they take to the pitch at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Barcelona -203
Atletico Madrid +669
Draw +317
Over/Under 2.5 (under -127)
ODDS ANALYSIS
These first leg ties in the Champions League tend to be played a little close to the vest, but this match has a chance to fit that mold perfectly. The Catalan side is going to try to make sure it doesn't make a mistake when it comes to allowing an away goal in this match, while the Atleti will be perfectly fine with a scoreless draw heading back home for the next leg.
Barca is the favored side as it has to be at -203 on the moneyline, and the most predictable result would be a one-goal victory.
The total is somewhat low at 2.5 and -127 vig on the under.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Atletico Madrid always knew it was going to be in for a defensive battle against PSV in the Round of 16. The Atleti needed to go all the way to penalties to beat the Dutch side, and it took an 8-7 victory in penalties to get into the quarterfinals.
Barcelona struggled for a half or so against Arsenal, but when push came to shove, quality finally shined through. The Catalan side got into the last eight by knocking off the Gunners 5-1 on aggregate over the two legs.
RECENT FORM
Diego Simeone's side has been strong offensively in La Liga of late. The team netted five against Real Betis over the weekend, and that came on the heels of scoring three against both Real Sociedad, Valenica and Deportivo La Coruna. That said, the team also lost on the road against Sporting 2-1, and it has allowed at least one goal in three of its last five games. That doesn't sound like much, but for a team which is built on its defense, that's somewhat of a stunning development.
Barcelona hasn't looked great these last few weeks. The team came back from the international break with a 2-1 loss at home against Real Madrid in El Clasico, a stunning defeat which ended an unbeaten streak of 34 straight matches at Camp Nou. That came off of a 2-2 draw at Villarreal which all of a sudden made La Liga a lot closer than it should be.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Fernando Torres has been in great form for Atletico Madrid, and he's going to be put into the starting lineup against Barcelona in hopes of getting some offense going.
That said, we still think this is going to be a relatively drab affair. The Catalan side will want to make sure it gets up by a goal early on, and though the defense has struggled at times of late, the offense is still doing the job. One of Neymar, Luis Suarez or Lionel Messi should get on the board in this match.
Barca has managed a pair of 2-1 victories against Atletico Madrid, and we think we're going to see a similar result in this one. The only difference is that the Catalan side will want to make sure that it doesn't give up that one potentially vital away goal. After Barcelona gets ahead, we think that'll be the end of the goals in this match.
Barcelona 1, Atletico Madrid 0
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Don’t miss out on getting paid because you couldn’t bet. Click here and deposit at BookMaker now! The fixture between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 2:45 p.m. ET at Camp Nou. The match will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.
