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Barcelona meet Atletico Madrid this Sunday in what could be a title-defining clash this season. Having been on a superb run of form until January, Barça have slightly faltered with three draws in the last five league games.
Atletico, meanwhile, have picked up steam recently and their six-match winning streak, including a 5-2 demolition of Sevilla. It has reignited an unexpected title race.
With 12 games left in the season, they now trail Barcelona by 5 points and a shock victory at Camp Nou could make them serious contenders for their second title in five years.
So far, Barcelona have gone the entire league season unbeaten while Atletico have lost only once - to Espanyol in December 2017. But the sales of Yannick Carrasco, Nicolas Gaitan, and Miguel Angel Moya have considerably reduced the depth of Atletico’s squad – they just have 19 outfield players in their roster.
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The quality, however, is top notch, which leaves them in a good position to shock Barcelona.
We tried to draw a combined starting eleven for the two teams in question. Which of the two teams would reign supreme in this XI?
Note: Only the players declared fit have been considered for selection
Goalkeeper
The top two players in the race for the Zamora trophy (awarded to the player with the lowest games-to-goals ratio) compete in this match. The two goalkeepers, in combination, have conceded 24 goals, 8 fewer than Leganes goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar who is currently the 3rd best goalkeeper in that race.
That speaks a lot about the quality and the form of the two goalkeepers this season. The first difficult decision is now being made, and we are going with Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak, who has conceded only 11 goals in 26 games.
He is also the two-time defending Zamora trophy winner, so his continued performances earns him a berth in this starting 11.
Defence
Nelson Semedo is still out injured, so Barca would be expected to go with Sergi Roberto as the right-back, and he is our pick at this position as well. His versatility on the pitch combined with his acceptable consistency at that position helps him beat off competition from Sime Vrsaljko and veteran defender Juanfran.
For the two centre-back positions, we are going with one-a-piece from each team with Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Godin providing much-needed solidarity and leadership at the heart of the defence.
Pique was rested for the game against Las Palmas, but he would surely be back in the starting XI for this match.
At left-back, it’s another player who will return to the Barcelona lineup in Jordi Alba, who also sat out of the Las Palmas draw due to suspension. He has been one of the key figures in Barcelona's defensive set-up, and is also expected to be one of the prominent figures during Spain’s World Cup campaign.
Midfield
Barca and Atletico have often gone with a four-man midfield during games this season, but we are going with a three-man midfield with a 4-3-3 formation on the cards for this combined XI.
First up is Barcelona’s defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets, who is pretty much an obvious selection. He is one of the best defensive midfielders who are active in the game right now and has been a mainstay in the Barcelona setup for years.
In central midfield, we are going with Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez who, at the age of 23, has already played nearly 200 games for the club. Along with Koke, he is one of the most crucial players in midfield that help Atletico tick year after year.
The third midfielder is the experienced veteran and the man who scored the World Cup winning goal in 2010, Andres Iniesta. Whenever there is a big match, he always has an important part to play and a huge say in the outcome of the match.
The all-time great completes our midfield.
Forwards
Let’s start with the obvious one first - Lionel Messi. There is not a lot to say about this selection really. He leads the Golden Boot race with 23 goals, and he is probably going to win it.
He has also scored against Chelsea and he would surely look to score a few more before the Blaugrana welcome the Blues to Camp Nou for the second leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie.
The penultimate selection in the lineup is the in-form of Luis Suarez, who is currently the second highest goal-scorer in the league this year.
By his standards, it has not been a great season so far, and if anyone has been impacted by Neymar’s sale to PSG earlier in the summer, it is Suarez. However, he has picked up his form and has now scored 20 league goals so far.
The third forward and the final selection in the lineup is Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann is in hot form right now, having netted a hat-trick against Sevilla last weekend. He also scored four more goals against Leganes in midweek.
7 goals in the last week has reignited transfer rumors again and, if the rumors are to be believed, this combined forward lineup might actually turn out to be the attacking trio at Barcelona next season.
Final Lineup: Oblak; Roberto, Pique, Godin, Alba; Busquets, Niguez, Iniesta; Griezmann, Messi, Suarez
Player Count: Barcelona 7–4 Atletico Madrid
