La Liga Betting – Barcelona vs. Atletico de Madrid

Barcelona (-175) vs. Atletico de Madrid (+450) (Draw +450)

Mid-week, Barcelona crushed Elche (5-0) at the Copa del Rey.  The result was much needed for a Barca team in turmoil. This Sunday (January 11), the team will host Atletico de Madrid in La Liga action hoping to push its recent problems firmly into the past (2:00 p.m. Eastern at Camp Nou).

The storm in Barcelona started on January 1, when Lio Messi didn’t show up to a team training session. As a consequence, coach Luis Enrique left the Ballon D’or finalist on the bench as Barca fell to Real Sociedad (1-0). Shortly thereafter, the team fired sports director Andoni Zubizarreta; then President Jose Maria Bartomeu announced the club would hold early elections looking to “reduce the tension the club is currently experiencing”.

Despite the turmoil, Barca is favored to be Atlatico, sitting at -175 in the moneyline; Los Colchoneros are +450, and the draw is +450.

On the other side, Atletico comes into the game flying high after beating Real Madrid (2-0) at the Copa del Rey. After the win, manager Diego Simeone stressed the importance of having a strong compete level – in games and practice.

“I don’t understand this game any other way than to compete. To be able to compete outside, you have to compete internally. If we want the possibility of keeping up with the competition, we need the group. We try to use our best weapons to show the people of Atlético de Madrid what it means to play in Atlético de Madrid,” said Simeone.

In the standings, this match is a battle for second place; both teams are on 38 points (12-2-3). However, Barcelona has a better goal difference (+33 to Atletico’s +19). They sit just one point behind league-leader Real Madrid, though Real has a game in hand.

With both teams anxious to take something from the game, you’ll get good value from the draw.

(Photo credit: Aitor Escauriaza (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)