Barça vs Atleti: Preview

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Barça face the Colchoneros looking for a place in the Final

FC Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid

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Competition/Round: 2020 Supercopa de España, Semifinal 2

Semifinal 1 Result: Valencia 1-3 Real Madrid

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Arthur, Ousmane Dembélé (out)

Atlético Outs & Doubts: Diego Costa, Thomas Lemar (out)

Date/Time: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 8pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 7pm GMT (UK), 2pm ET, 11am PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Friday)

Venue: King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Referee: José Luis González González

How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Canal+ Sport 2 (Nigeria), Movistar Liga de Campeones (Spain), others

How to stream: WatchESPN (USA), Movistar+ (Spain), others

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Following a bad draw against local rivals Espanyol at the weekend, Barcelona return to action with the not at all anticipated Spanish Supercup, with a very not exciting new format and a tournament taking place outside of Spain in Saudi Arabia, which certainly makes a lot of sense.

Real Madrid destroyed Valencia in the first semifinal and we are guaranteed either a Madrid Derby or the second El Clásico of the season in the final, so that has made Thursday’s game a lot more interesting. Barça and Atleti are expected to field strong sides, so this should not feel like a friendly.

Barça need a response after the Espanyol performance, and for the first time in a while Lionel Messi is under pressure from his own fans to show some fight and lead the team to a big win. Good thing is he scored the winner against Atleti in Madrid six weeks ago and this is his favorite opponent, so don’t be surprised if the captain shines bright in this one.

This should be good and nervous and Diego Simeone will definitely outcoach Ernesto Valverde, so can the Barça talent rise to the occasion? We’ll find out.

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POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-3-3): Neto; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, De Jong; Messi, Suárez, Griezmann

Atlético (4-4-2): Oblak; Trippier, Felipe, Giménez, Lodi; Correa, Thomas, Herrera, Saúl; Morata, João Félix

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PREDICTION

We always lose to Simeone when it’s not in La Liga, and the way the league game went a month ago isn’t encouraging at all for Barça fans: 2-1 to Atleti.

Source: barcablaugranes.com