When this year's La Liga calendar was revealed, Atletico and Barcelona fans marked the next-to-last week as one of their top priorities. With last year's title being decided between both teams, this seems like a chance to get even for Barcelona, but their hosts will not make things easy for them. One thing that Diego Simeone loves is crashing into another club's party, and this could be a good chance for him to deny Barcelona one more time from achieving a title.
Which are the key elements that Barcelona has to cancel out in order to keep their four point advantage over Real Madrid and celebrate another championship?
Atletico's strikers will be key against Los Blaugranas
Last year Diego Costa and David Villa caused mayhem everytime they faced Barcelona. This time, Los Blaugranas will have to be aware of what Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic can do up front. Atletico's strikers have made quite an impact in their first season with Los Colchoneros, and particularly the Frenchman is having a wonderful season, and some big clubs in Europe such as Chelsea, Manchester City and Bayern are already preparing bids to snatch the striker away. Barcelona's chances of winning the title on Sunday will heavily rely on what their defense can do to stop these two men, who have combined themselves for 34 goals this season.
Both strikers have partnered up just fine in their debut season with Los Colchoneros.
Barcelona struggles defending set pieces
If there's one area where Barca can improve, that can very well be while defending set pieces. Los Blaugranas have struggled during this season with this type of plays, and Simeone's men have mastered the art of scoring when the ball lays still near their opponent's box. Mandzukic is one of the biggest threats, but Uruguayan defender Diego Godin has made a name for himself scoring crucial goals for his side in this sort of situation. His goal last year against Los Culés gave Atletico the title, could history repeat itself on Sunday?
Diego Godín scored the crucial goal for Atletico during last year's "final" against Barcelona.
Atletico's midfield could be much more intense than Barcelona's
One of the key elements for Diego Simeone's success with Atletico has to be their intensity in every match they play. Back when "El Cholo" rocked the defensive midfield position, he played by the words:"Either the ball or the opponent will go through, but NEVER both. That's a principle he has taught well to some of his players, such as Koke, Gabi, Turkish powerhouse Arda Turan and newcomer Saul Ñiguez. Although all three men have endured their fair share of injuries throughout the year, Atletico's midfield will get to this match fully rested against an overworked midifield. Iniesta, Rakitic, Busquets and Xavi have all been working overtime to get Barcelona into the Champions League final, and maybe some signs of fatigue against a hard-hitting team like Atletico could end up providing a much more exciting closure for La Liga than expected.
Arda, Koke and Gabi surround Xavi during this year's first meeting.
Destiny had its way of creating chaos for Real Madrid. And maybe their neighbors could keep their title hopes alive against Los Culés. Can Simeone pull it off? We will find out on Sunday.
Simeone keeps a close eye on Fernando Torres, who could also end up giving Real Madrid one last chance of winning La Liga.
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