Barça under pressure – Koeman’s farewell game?

It’s the top match of Matchday 8 in Spain’s La Liga – and one where the pressure is even greater than usual. That’s because all eyes will be on Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman at 9pm on Saturday night, even though he won’t be on the sidelines.

Koeman is suspended and will be replaced by co-coach Alfred Schreuder – and yet it could be his farewell game as Barça coach. Barça is in the midst of a serious crisis and Koeman is facing the end of his career.

The tough away game at the Wanda Metropolitano with champions Atletico thus comes at an inopportune time for the Catalan club and the Dutchman himself.

The fact that the struggling Barça will go into the game as underdogs is also clearly shown by the odds offered by the providers ahead of Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona.

The best bookmakers clearly favour the home side. If you make a prediction on Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona, you won’t even get odds of 2.00.

Spain Atletico Madrid – Statistics & current form

There are good reasons to place your bet on the Rojiblancos in Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona on Saturday night. The two biggest are: Barça’s crisis and Atletico’s home advantage.

Because Atletico is usually a force at the Wanda Metropolitano. This season they are still undefeated at home, last season there was only one defeat. In addition, Barça have only won one of their last four matches at the Wanda – the one last season was a 1-0 defeat.

However, it should be noted that not only Barcelona is not in a good situation, Atletico has also been struggling for weeks. The Rojiblancos have won only five of their nine competitive games this season – a whopping three of them in the 90th minute or even much later! The last-minute winners also struck again during the week virtually at the final whistle in highly dramatic fashion.

Atletico Madrid as specialists in scoring late winning goals

Atletico trailed for the third time in a row in their Champions League clash with AC Milan, then equalised in injury time and scored the winner in the 97th minute through Luis Suarez.

In the league, Atletico had already won 2-1 against Espanyol Barcelona and Getafe in the closing stages to turn a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 win. So Atletico’s morale is right, but their performance is not. This was most evident in last week’s result in La Liga, when Atletico surprisingly lost 1-0 to last-place Deportivo Alaves, who had no points up to that point, on Matchday 6.

Atletico are also very vulnerable at the moment, but the Rojiblancos are nevertheless favourites, as the betting odds ahead of Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona make clear.

Predicted line-up of Atletico Madrid:
Oblak – Savic, Hermoso, Felipe – Trippier, De Paul, Llorente, Koke, Carrasco – Correa, Suarez

Last matches played by Atletico Madrid:

Spain Barcelona – Statistics & current form

It’s no surprise that Barça go into this game as underdogs. The main reason is the heavy 0:3 in the Champions League against Benfica Lisbon on Wednesday, which left a lasting impression on bookmakers and bettors alike – of course in a negative way.

The small liberation in the league on matchday 7 against Levante (3:0) has already fizzled out after a few days, the crisis has spread again.

Koeman under pressure: Win or fly

After a 3-0 defeat to Bayern on Matchday 1, the club is now facing another heavy CL defeat that has hit them to the core. And it has caused Ronald Koeman’s chair to shake. If Barça don’t win at Atletico, the Dutchman could lose his job, a defeat could definitely seal his fate.

As Koeman is serving the second game of his two-game suspension, he will not even be on the sidelines at the Wanda Metropolitano for his “final game”.

But that doesn’t have to be a bad omen, after all, Barcelona beat Levante impressively with co-coach Schreuder. But, of course, Levante cannot be compared to Atletico in any way. In the case of Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona, the odds are clear: Barça is the underdog. The average odds on a victory for the Catalans are currently a whopping 4.20.

The liberation blow is therefore well worth it – should Koeman and Co. actually succeed in beating the champions in Madrid.

Predicted line-up of Barcelona:
Ter Stegen – Mingueza, Piqué, Araujo, Dest – Busquets, F. De Jong, Pedri, Coutinho – Memphis, L. De Jong

Last matches played by Barcelona:

Spain Atletico Madrid – Barcelona Spain Tip

Barça have yet to win away from home this season, although they have only made two appearances away from home (the match at Sevilla on Matchday 4 was postponed). The third guest appearance now at champions Atletico Madrid could hardly be more difficult.

The pressure on Barcelona, especially on Koeman, is enormous. Although Barcelona is still unbeaten in the league so far (three wins, three draws), the two crushing 3-0 defeats in the Champions League have plunged the club into a crisis.

Given the state of the Catalans, we therefore refrain from betting on a win for the visitors – but this prediction would of course be lucrative, albeit risky.

Since Atletico also has its problems at the moment, we expect a tough game between two battered fighters who will not risk much at the beginning in order not to fall behind early on. The bet on Under 2.5 goals (odds average: 1.85) is interesting for us, for example, but in the end we opt for the following forecast for Atletico vs. Barcelona: At half-time it’s a draw