Atletico Madrid host Barcelona today in a game between two of the three leading La Liga sides.
Atletico Madrid have won on 22 occasions in the league in the Calderón out of a total of 78 visits in the league. Barça have won on three of their last four visits in la liga. Luis Enrique’s side won twice last season at Atlético: a 3-2 win the Copa del Rey gave them a 4-2 win on aggregate and a 1-0 win in May in the league handed them the league title.
Barcelona won the treble in the 2014/2015 season and it was at the Estadio Vicente Calderon that the European champions claimed the La Liga title with a 1-0 win.
The game kicks off at 7.30pm Nigerian time.
The Catalans have not been at their free-flowing best during the first two league games, although 1-0 victories against Athletic Bilbao and Malaga have given them a platform on which to build their title defence.
Diego Simeone’s men, meanwhile, followed up a hard-fought 1-0 win against Las Palmas with a 3-0 dismantling of fellow UEFA Champions League side Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
One of the biggest surprises of the early season is that Messi – who scored 43 Liga goals last term – failed to find the net in the opening two games.
However, the Argentina superstar scored three times in four matches against Atleti last term – including that winner in the decisive league-deciding fixture in May – and he will be expected to fire on all cylinders after hitting three goals in two games against Bolivia and Mexico for his country during the international break.
Gerard Pique will miss out on the fixture. The defender was banned for four matches last month after being sent off in the second leg of the Supercopa Espana against Bilbao for insulting a linesman.
What are your predictions for this match?
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