Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid
Barcelona holds a slender advantage as they prepare to host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Supercopa de Espana on Wednesday.
The Catalan club leads the tie by virtue of away goals after earning a 1-1 draw in Madrid, as Neymar's 66th-minute header cancelled out David Villa's impressive volleyed opener at the Vicente Calderon.
For that reason, Gerardo Martino's side go into the return fixture as a slight favorite to seal an 11th Supercopa success in its fifth consecutive appearance in the competition.
Atletico, meanwhile, has only won the Supercopa on one occasion in the club's history - at the start of the 1984-85 season - and has finished as runner-up three times since.
Barcelona has several injury concerns ahead of the game at Camp Nou, with Adriano (hamstring) a doubt, while Ibrahim Afellay (thigh), Isaac Cuenca (knee) and Carles Puyol (knee) are all still out.
Lionel Messi, who is the all-time top scorer in the Supercopa with 10 goals, could also miss out after failing to feature in Sunday's nervy 1-0 victory against Malaga due to a thigh problem, although he has returned to training.
Atletico has no such worries, and comes into the game full of confidence after a crushing 5-0 win over Rayo Vallecano in La Liga last weekend.
Diego Costa netted his second and third goals of the new league season in that fixture, with the Brazilian looking in ominous form for Diego Simeone's side.
With Barcelona's away goal seeing it in the lead, Atletico will likely need to pull off its first win at Camp Nou since the 2005-06 campaign if it is to emerge with the trophy.
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