FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid : Five things to watch for

BARCELONA, SPAIN – APRIL 02: Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona celebrates with team-mate Neymar after scoring the opening goal during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF at Camp Nou on April 2, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Here are five things to look for as FC Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

After their loss in El Clasico, Barcelona will look to bounce back as they take on Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

On Saturday Barcelona were defeated by bitter rivals Real Madrid 2-1 in El Clasico in the Camp Nou. It was the first loss the Catalans have suffered since October and it was a stunner. They took the lead thanks to Pique but quickly gave up two goals to Karim Benzema and the winner from Cristiano Ronaldo. Even when Sergio Ramos was sent off after he picked up a second yellow, Barcelona still couldn’t capitalize. It was a bad loss but thankfully for the Catalans, it doesn’t hurt their title race challenge that much. Barcelona still lead Real Madrid by seven points with Real still in third place. Obviously things will need to really turn in Real’s favor to snatch the title from Barca.

Atletico Madrid, second in La Liga, did their job this weekend with a 5-1 thrashing of Real Betis. They are now six points back of Barcelona as Atletico look to keep fighting for the La Liga title. It was a good rebound after they lost to Sporting Gijon 2-1.

Here are five things to look for in this matchup.

Next: 5. Set piece madness

Add us as a preferred source on Google