Barcelona is about to face its rival Atletico Madrid, within the 12th week of the 2026/27th season in La Liga, on Sunday evening at Riyadh Air Metropolano Stadium.
This is a very important match in the competition for the champion title, considering that Atletico Madrid is only two points behind the leader Barcelona and with one victory could bring him down from the head of the table.
For this reason, Barcelona knows it can’t be wrong tomorrow at Metropolitano, while at the same time aiming to avenge the pain of last season at the King’s Cup and Champions League.
As Barcelona prepares for confronting Diego Simeon’s team, the main focus will be on the new defence line Hansi Flick is expected to activate.
In fact, according to the media media medium, Barcelona’s coach seems to be going to repeat the defence formation consisting of Brian Farinas, Pau Cubars, Gerard Martin and Joao Cancelo, who are expected to face a very difficult test tomorrow.
The injuries of several leading players in the defensive department have forced the German coach to experiment with the line of defense in the last two matches against Alave and Aston Willlas.
Farinas, who has a natural position in the central midfield, has launched both matches as a right-wing defender, while Joao Cancelo played on the left flank. Meanwhile, Pau Chubars in one match had Frankie de Jong, and on the other, Gerard Martin.
Yules Kounde continues to be open to the trip to Madrid and, although Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen have been recovered, they are not expected to start the match in the first minute. So Flick will be forced back to believe the improvised defense line.
Barcelona’s improvised defense, however, will face a real fire test against an attack by Atletico Madrid, who knows very well to exploit the spaces behind the opposing defence.
With Flick not expected to change his game philosophy, Barcelona will aim to maintain the high line of defence, pressure aggressively and place the team in half of the opponent.
But Atletico made excellent use of this tactic last season and punished Barcelona at both the King’s Cup and the Champions League.
In La League this season, apparently less than Barcelona, which has achieved 46. However, Simeone has some offensive footballers available who may cause serious problems.
Alex Baena, Giuliano Simeone and Adilola Lookman are alternatives to the arm, while Julian Alvarez, Alexander Sorloth and Jonathan David offer various risks at the heart of the attack.
In addition, Atletico Madrid also has wing defenders with markedly offensive tendencies, such as Marcos Llyarte and Alejandro Grimaldo./GazzetaExpress/
Source Layer: Insander