Following a busy transfer window, Barcelona gets their first opportunity to test out the new-look squad in a challenging home game against Atletico Madrid.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a huge addition for Barca and bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 2.70 for him to make a scoring debut.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 5th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
The former Arsenal man has endured a couple of very tough seasons, but he’s been one of the best goalscorers in top European football for nearly a decade and should provide a big boost for a team that’s managed only 32 goals in 21 league outings this season.
With Adama Traore and Ferran Torres also in the mix, Barcelona suddenly looks full of attacking quality and there should be plenty of exciting games coming up at Camp Nou during the rest of the season.
There could be fireworks straight away in the match-up against Atletico. Diego Simeone’s side is known for its world-class defense, but they have fallen way short of their high standards at the back in 2021-22 and it currently seems like their best form of defense is to attack.
The goals have flowed very well for Atleti in 2022 as the defending La Liga champions have scored seven times in three league fixtures. However, they have also conceded multiple goals in six of their last seven away outings, so Aubameyang & Co. will face a very fragile defense on Sunday.
This is also a fixture that has brought a lot of success for Barcelona over the years. In fact, Diego Simeone has never won at Camp Nou during his 10-year spell as Atletico manager. He’s taken his troops to the famous stadium 14 times and half of the trips have ended in defeats with the rest of the games finishing with a draw.
Simeone’s 15th visit will be made even tougher by the fact that Atletico head to Barcelona without a number of key players. Geoffrey Kondogbia, Antoine Griezmann and Marcos Llorente are all injured and won’t be able to help the side while there are also question marks surrounding Jan Oblak. Atletico’s No. 1 is fit to play, but he’s just recovered from COVID-19 and might not be at his best.
Barca have been off the pace in the battle for Champions League qualification for most of the season, but they now have the perfect opportunity to climb into the top four with Atletico holding only a slight one-point advantage over them. This makes the clash one of the most important matches of the season for both sides.
