Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Spain Supercopa Semifinals Odds & Pick

• Traditional preseason two-team format replaced this year by four-team competition taking place in Saudi Arabia
• La Liga winners (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey champions (Valencia) joined by the two Madrid clubs
• Barcelona leads the way with 13 Supercopa titles to Real Madrid’s 10

Though slow ticket sales may be garnering much of the attention ahead of the kickoff of the new-look Supercopa de Espana competition in Saudi Arabia this week, the teams themselves will simply be looking to capture their first silverware of the season.

In that respect, Barcelona should enter this semifinal matchup full of confidence, having gone unbeaten in their last nine head-to-head clashes with Atletico, with five victories over that spell.

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Supercopa Semifinal Odds

Odds taken Jan. 7.

Goals at a Premium

Matches between these two teams have been tight, cagey affairs of late. Neither team has managed to score more than two goals in the last 14 times they’ve played each other, while each of the last five contests produced under 2.5 goals per game.

Leo #Messi has scored some sublime goals in the Spanish Super Cup.

See them ALL: https://t.co/mPaxm4A3tW pic.twitter.com/iQsbqk3cZn

— FC Barcelona (from ?) (@FCBarcelona) January 6, 2020

Barcelona edged Atletico in their last meeting, played back on December 1, with Lionel Messi scoring the only goal of the game in the 86th minute. In fact, Atletico hasn’t scored against the defending Spanish champions in their last two meetings, with Diego Costa being the last player to find the net against Barcelona, back in 2018.

Barcelona Proving Hard to Beat

The Catalan club might not be playing irresistible soccer right now, but they are proving a tough nut to crack. Ernesto Valverde’s team is unbeaten in its last 12 games and has lost just once in its last 20 contests, that being a 3-1 reverse at Levante back in early November.

? — Luis Suarez has 22 goal contributions in 21 games this season for Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/7qckM6sTQK

— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) December 29, 2019

However, Barcelona is finding wins a little hard to come by of late, with three of its last four outings ending as draws. But scoring goals hasn’t been a problem, with the club scoring two or more in five of its last six games.

Atletico Firing on All Cylinders

Currently third in La Liga and five points back of co-leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico is on a run of four consecutive victories, and hasn’t lost since that 1-0 defeat against Barca at the start of last month.

Oblak for Atletico Madrid:

2️⃣3️⃣3️⃣ games
1️⃣2️⃣9️⃣ clean sheets

Incredible record ⛔️pic.twitter.com/O6ZTXSRmJo

— Goal (@goal) January 7, 2020

While the team has struggled to score goals at times – only Athletic Bilbao (20) has scored less than Atletico’s 22 among the top 13 in La Liga – the club’s strength lies in its defensive prowess. With just 12 goals conceded, Atletico has the joint-best defense in the Spanish top flight, alongside city rival Real, and has not conceded more than one goal in any of its last nine games.

Missing Out

Both clubs are missing some of their leading lights for this match, however. For Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong’s red card in the Barcelona derby against Espanyol will see the Dutch defender sitting this match out, joining the likes of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ousmane Dembele on the sidelines, with both out injured.

Frenkie de Jong is sent off for the first time in his career ? pic.twitter.com/8FJnmDfj9U

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 4, 2020

For Atletico, Thomas Lemar, Koke and Costa are all out injured, with the latter’s absence for the last six weeks leaving leading scorer Alvaro Morata and his seven goals to power the attack.

Conversely, Barcelona’s front three of Messi, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann have accounted for 31 goals so far between them.

Pick: Draw +235