There will be a specific match under the spotlight of Spanish football this weekend when the two best teams in LaLiga face each other. FC Barcelona, currently on top of the table, will have to survive their trip to their nearest challengers, Atlético de Madrid, this Sunday at 9 p.m. (CET) if they want to keep first place before the international break.
While the Blaugrana machine was crushing their rivals since the mere beginning of the season, the Colchoneros had 7 points out of a possible 12 after 4 games. Nonetheless, they have won every single league match since then, which enabled them to keep a short gap from the top spot and have this ideal chance to take it in a few hours.
Their situation is quite different, however, in the UEFA Champions League. They lost at home against Bayern München last Tuesday (0-2); this result means that they are most likely to have to go through the knockout phase play-offs in order to reach the round of 16, and it was also their first defeat in almost two months if we take into account both this tournament and the league. As a positive note, Diego Simeone will be able to count on almost all of the players of his squad, except for Cristian Romero, who is definitely out.
This availability aspect contrasts heavily with Hansi Flick's team, which has to overcome Rodri's absence, as he got injured on Tuesday during the Culers' 3-0 win when hosting Aston Villa. Despite this bad news, they also have some positive updates: both Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen received the green light to play again after some weeks, strengthening a defence recently weakened by injuries.
Thus, the best defence of the championship, with only 8 goals conceded, will host the best attack, which has already scored 46 times, with Raphinha being the top scorer while playing most of the time as a centre forward, the position that was so talked about last summer with Julián Álvarez as the main character of the conversation. That story is in the past, and the present of both powerhouses has already been broken down; the only thing yet to do is watch whatever is going to happen in this future clash that is around the corner.