Key events
14 min: There’s a beautiful tempo to this. High, high quality stuff. Now Eric Garcia builds down the Barcelona right. He floats a cross to Rashford in space at the far post, inside the area but a little way out. The England international hits a businesslike volley that bounces wide of a post. It was close enough to draw a gasp from the crowd with Musso scrambling across his goal.
10 min: No one has had a shot for at least a minute, which is unusual. Here comes Lookman for Atlético, though! He finds Simeone with a fantastic pass out wide after coming up against a well-positioned Barcelona backline. Simeone cracks one powerfully but it’s neither on target nor in reach of a teammate.
9 min: Now Cancelo, looking like a footballing Rolls-Royce as per usual, cuts in and hammers a low shot at Musso from an angle. The goalie makes a tidy save.
8 min: Koke cynically takes out Olmo with Barça ready to break at pace. The ref has a strong word. But no card.
7 min: This is more open than a school-playground lunchtime kickabout at 1.58pm.
Yamal looks for Rashford, in space on the left, but gets it wrong. Then the visitors stream down to the other end and Lookman has a shot blocked. Corner.
5 min: The pace is hot! Hot! Hot! The visitors fashion one chance at the other end after Rashford’s early opening, with Griezmann being crowded out near the six-yard box … then seconds later, Alvarez powers in from the right wing, along the byline, cuts back and hits a shot straight at Garcia. He should have scored! It should be 1-1!
4 min: Huge chance for Rashford! Atlético’s Molina gives it away in a defensive area with a pass inside, a horrible error, and Rashford is suddenly one-on-one. He hits an unconvincing effort at Musso and the keeper is able to save with a foot. That should be 1-0.
2 min: A niggly little foul by Griezmann early doors, on Pedri. The crowd wails before Gerard Martín takes the free-kick.
Flick paces the touchline in a comfy-looking black jumper and Nike trainers.
Rashford has an early go, cutting in from the Barcelona left and hitting a shot straight at Musso.
First-half kick-off!
Vamos!
A moment to honour the memory of Mircea Lucescu.
I hereby designate Dani Olmo, playing in the middle of a forward three behind Lewandowski and with pace either side, in the “schemer” role.
Marcus Rashford appears from the tunnel, and raises both hands to the heavens.
It feels like there’s a special energy to this tie already.
We are literally less than five minutes away from kick-off!
The atmosphere in the stadium looks sensational. FC Barcelona flags are held aloft everywhere. The players are assembled in the tunnel.
Vamos!
Rob Smyth has Paris Saint-Germain v crisis club Liverpool over on Channel 1:
“What he’s done for that club is absolutely astronomical,” Cole says of Griezmann, soon to depart Atletico for Orlando City FC. There’s a decent Nasa link in there somewhere.
“I don’t think Atlético will do a smash and grab etc.,” opines Tim on email.
“They are an excellent team on the break and will outplay Barca in my opinion for significant stretches.”
Was it really May 2024 when Lookman banged in that hat-trick for Atalanta in the Europa League final v Leverkusen?
You bet it was:
Lookman signed for the Spanish club in February, a piece of transfer news that had hitherto escaped me.
Luis Garcia is on duty in the stadium, evoking those days when it seemed like Chelsea and Liverpool played each other every three minutes.
Atlético and Barça will play thrice in the space of nine days, starting with the match on Saturday, when Lewandowski won it. This is their fifth meeting of the current season, to boot.
“Diego Simeone has never won at Camp Nou,” says Karen Carney, alongside Cole on pundit duty. And there you have it. No time like the present, that’s what I say.
“It’s beauty and the beast,” says Joe Cole on TNT Sports of the contest that awaits. We know what Atlético are going to do tonight, they’ll “bank in”, make it nasty, they’ll be aggressive, and there’ll be all sorts of shenenigans going on.”
Alvarez, leading the line for the visitors, has scored 14 goals in his last 17 Champions League matches. #Prolific
“A smash and grab would be great,” emails Andres. “But look up Simeone’s record at Barcelona.”
Would you mind doing it? Much appreciated.
I’d also take a sparkling attacking masterclass from Flick’s side as well of course. I’m pretty flexible on the issue.
Barça may be favourites and deservedly so but personally I’d like to see a classic European smash-and-grab by Simeone’s side tonight, with a healthy dose of naughty defending and shithousery in the mix.
Araujo stuck in one hell of a reducer on Phil Foden the other week at Wembley during England 1-1 Uruguay. I saw it with my own eyes and it was the most violent tackle in a top-level game I’ve seen for a good while.
Teams
Lewandowski came off the bench on Saturday to score the winner but starts tonight, with fit-again Jules Kounde the other change. Raphinha is out with a hamstring injury and will miss the second leg, too. Ronald Araujo limped out of the La Liga match on Saturday but is on the bench tonight.
Marcos Llorente is one of five changes to Simeone’s Atlético team from the weekend: David Hancko, Matteo Ruggeri, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez are the others.
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Cubarsi, Gerard, Joao Cancelo; Eric Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Rashford; Lewandowski. Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Balde, Araujo, Gavi, Torres, Lopez, Casado, Bardghji, Cortes, Espart, Marques.
Atlético Madrid (4-4-2): Musso; Molina, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri; Simeone, Llorente, Koke, Lookman; Griezmann, Alvarez. Substitutes: Esquivel, de Luis, Mendoza, Sorloth, Baena, Almada, Lenglet, Pubill, Vargas, Gonzalez, Diaz.
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
And how good is the weather, by the way? Answer: very. With another seemingly interminable league phase (and winter) out the way we can now enjoy some decent knockout ties. Sunshine + meaningful Champions League encounters (beyond the recent round of 16): it’s a heady mix.
Team news will be coming up soon, meanwhile, why not send me an email?
Preamble
How good are Barcelona, really? How good is Robert Lewandowski when push comes to shove? And how good are Atlético nearly 15 years into the reign of the sharp-suited Diego Simeone?
There are some recent clues. The seasoned Poland striker Lewandowski had the last word in La Liga on Saturday, his 87th-minute winner added to Marcus Rashford’s opener giving Barça a 2-1 comeback win away from home.
Hansi Flick’s side are closing in on the league title, leading second-placed Real Madrid by seven points, with a 19-point chasm separating Barcelona and tonight’s opponents.
And yet. In February Diego Simeone’s side thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final. “This will remain in the memory however the tie ends,” Simeone said that night. They progressed, despite losing 3-0 the following week.
History is also on Atlético’s side: these two faced each other in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2013/14 and 2015/16, and Simeone’s side prevailed on both occasions, their only previous meetings in the competition.
More recently the last nine encounters have produced 35 goals between them, and there will be an embarrassment of attacking riches on show this evening. “We are ready to compete and we believe we can hurt them,” said Simeone. This could be quite good …
Kick-off: 8pm UK time.
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