La Liga Betting – FC Barcelona at Atletico Madrid

FC Barcelona (-125) at Atletico Madrid (+400) (Draw +290)

FC Barcelona are having a season for the ages. The squad recently advanced to the UEFA Champions League final (where they’ll meet Italian side Juventus) and have already booked their ticket to the Copa del Rey final. Adding to the impressive 2014-15 resume, the team needs just one more win to sew up the 2014-15 La Liga title. Lionel Messi and company will have the chance to earn the La Liga crown this Sunday when they travel to face Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon (1:00 PM Eastern).

Despite losing 3-2 to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, Barcelona qualified for the Champions League final thanks to a 3-0 win in the first leg of the semifinal matchup (taking the two-game series 5-3 on aggregate). They are also four points clear of second-place Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table with just two games to go.

Manager Luis Enrique credits the team’s three-headed attack – featuring Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez – for the unprecedented success.

“It is difficult for any defense to deal with three players of their level, especially when the team backs them up by generating situations of play that they can take advantage of,” Enrique said after ousting Bayern on Tuesday. “I will talk at the end of the season about everything that has happened,” he added. “This is for everyone who has formed part of Barca.”

Atletico Madrid have already qualified for the Champions League next season and can’t do any better than a third-place finish in the standings (currently sitting nine points behind Real); however, a win over the likely league champions would be a nice close to the season and would assure the team isn’t caught by fourth-place Valencia, who sit four points back.

The problem for Atletico is that they have been dominated by Barcelona lately, losing three in a row.  The last time Atletico beat the Catalans was during last season’s Champions League quarterfinal, but a lot has changed in both teams since then. Barca simply looks like the best club – not only in Spanish football – but in the world right now, making it hard to bet against them.

Pick: Barcelona (-125).

(Photo credit: By Lluís from Sabadell (Barcelona), España (LFS_14039) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)