Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid: 5 players to watch out for | La Liga 2020-21

#3 Luiz Suarez (Atletico Madrid)

Luis Suarez will return to Camp Nou for the first time since leaving the club

After spending six years at Camp Nou, Luis Suarez's time at Barcelona abruptly ended when Ronald Koeman took charge as the new manager.

The 34-year-old striker made 283 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona and scored 195 goals.

Since joining Atletico Madrid, the Uruguayan has enjoyed decent form, netting 19 times in 28 games. However, he has not scored a goal in La Liga since March 21st against Alaves.

Suarez missed three of Atletico Madrid's last six games due to a muscle injury.

Plenty of attention will be on the centre-forward, who returns to Camp Nou for the first time since his departure last year.

(🌕) Barcelona is preparing a small tribute for Luis Suárez on his return to Camp Nou this Saturday. They want to do it before the game, but requires the approval of La Liga first. @rac1 #FCB 🇺🇾🔵🔴

— Reshad Rahman ✆ (@HagridFCB) May 6, 2021

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#2 Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid)

Yannick Carrasco scored before half-time in the previous meeting with Barcelona

Yannick Carrasco has played a vital role in keeping Atletico Madrid's hopes of winning the La Liga trophy alive in recent weeks.

The 27-year-old midfielder has either scored or provided an assist in each of his last five domestic league matches. Furthermore, he put up a man-of-the-match performance when Barcelona last played against Atletico Madrid.

Simeone will be keen to leverage Carrasco's pace and sharpness in front of goal to make an impact against Barcelona.

The Belgium international makes an average of 1.5 key passes and 1.3 shots on goal per La Liga fixture.

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#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Lionel Messi is the top scorer in La Liga this season

As La Liga's top scorer with 26 goals so far this season, Lionel Messi will be Barcelona's main man to watch in the upcoming clash. Although he did not score against Atletico Madrid last November, the Argentine ace has an extremely impressive record against Los Rojiblancos.

In 42 appearances against Simeone's side, the six-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored 32 goals, with Sevilla being the only club to have conceded more goals from him.

Considering his superb partnership with Griezmann at the moment, Messi will be aiming to inspire Barcelona to a victory against Atletico Madrid so that they can return to the top of the La Liga table.

Lionel Messi is still the ONLY player in history to have 1000 goal contributions.He’s currently on 1051 goal contributions in just 917 games🐐 pic.twitter.com/rLUbfFONWX

— CM. (@ClearlyMessi) May 6, 2021

Ahead of the match, former Atletico Madrid player Saul Niguez praised the Barcelona playmaker and claimed:

“There is no doubt that Lionel Messi is the best player in history, not just currently."

“I admire Cristiano for how he works, how he is, but I think Messi, at a footballing level, has no comparison.”