Who:\u00a0<\/strong>Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid The players of Spanish rivals Barcelona and Atletico might be sick of the sight of each other by next week\u2019s second leg.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Their Champions League doubleheader will complete a barrage of five meetings between the teams in the space of two months, culminating in three matches in 10 days.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Barcelona came from behind to beat Atletico 2-1 on the road to strengthen their hold on the Spanish league lead.<\/p>\n In February, they met in the Copa del Rey with each winning big at home and Atletico advancing on aggregate.<\/p>\n They have met twice in the Champions League knockout stages, both times at the quarterfinal stage, with Atletico going through in 2014 and 2016 on their run to the final each season. Atletico played the second leg at home on those occasions too.<\/p>\n Robert Lewandowski shouldered home a dramatic late winner for Barcelona as they edged Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday to move seven points clear at the top of La Liga after Real Madrid slipped up by losing at Mallorca.<\/p>\n Marcus Rashford pulled Barca level after Giuliano Simeone opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half.<\/p>\n Atletico midfielder Nico Gonzalez was sent off just before the break, and his team dug deep with 10 men to try to avoid defeat, which they almost managed.<\/p>\n Atletico have lost three in a row in all tournaments and stayed one point behind third-placed Villarreal, who lost 1-0 at Girona on Monday.<\/p>\n With little left to play for in La Liga, Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated heavily with Wednesday\u2019s visit to Camp Nou in mind, and both sides struggled at times.<\/p>\n Barca boss Hansi Flick said both teams would be better in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the Champions League, where every player has 5 to 10 percent more to give,\u201d Flick said.<\/p>\n Simeone said his side played \u201ca good game\u201d, adding: \u201cWe have to focus on the Champions League game now.\u201d<\/p>\n Barcelona stormed into the quarterfinals with a thumping 7-2 victory over Newcastle United at Camp Nou on March 18, sealing an emphatic 8-3 aggregate triumph.<\/p>\n Raphinha opened the scoring for Barcelona in the sixth minute after Fermin Lopez led a swift counterattack, \u200cbut Anthony Elanga levelled nine minutes later from Lewis Hall\u2019s cross. Marc Bernal restored Barca\u2019s lead from a Raphinha free kick before Elanga struck again in the 28th minute after Lamine Yamal failed to clear.<\/p>\n Yamal made amends by converting a spot kick deep into first-half added time after VAR spotted Kieran Trippier\u2019s foul on Raphinha inside the box, and Barca came storming back from the break to score four goals in the second half through Fermin, a brace from Robert Lewandowski and another Raphinha strike.<\/p>\n Atletico Madrid withstood a rousing Tottenham Hotspur fightback to advance 7-5 on aggregate despite a 3-2 second-leg loss in North London.<\/p>\n Simeone\u2019s side, who scored four times in the opening 22 minutes in the 5-2 first-leg home romp, wobbled under a home onslaught, but goals by Julian Alvarez and David Hancko \u200cultimately gave them breathing space.<\/p>\n Flick said last month that Wednesday\u2019s face-off looks like a \u201cvery difficult\u201d game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to go step by step, match by match. That\u2019s what we did last season and will do again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Barcelona midfielder Dani Olmo said the tie was \u201call or nothing\u201d for his side.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the quality, and we can do it if we\u2019re at our best,\u201d Olmo said. \u201cWe\u2019re motivated. We remember what happened [in the Copa del Rey], and we can\u2019t afford to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n Simeone said Barcelona are the best attacking team in Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prospect of facing them in the quarterfinals is a high-level challenge that will demand that same level from us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Atleti forward Ademola Lookman said he expected a \u201cspecial, special game against another tough opponent\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be ready for it, and we\u2019ll prepare in the right way. Let\u2019s take it as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n The two clubs have faced each other on 250 occasions. Barcelona have won 115 of those games, Atletico have won 78 and 57 ended as draws.<\/p>\n Last 10 encounters:<\/strong><\/p>\n Raphinha, Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen are all unavailable due to injury.<\/p>\n However, Ronald Araujo has been deemed fit to play despite being forced off against Atletico over the weekend.<\/p>\n Predicted starting XI:<\/strong><\/p>\n Joan Garcia (goalkeeper); Kounde, Cubarsi, Martin, Cancelo; Eric Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Rashford; Lewandowski<\/p>\n Pablo Barrios remains unavailable due to a thigh issue, and Jose Gimenez and Johnny Cardoso are major doubts as they struggle to recover from injuries.<\/p>\n Marc Pubil, Jan Oblak and Rodrigo Mendoza are back in training after injuries and could feature.<\/p>\n Predicted starting XI:<\/strong><\/p>\n Oblak (goalkeeper); Llorente, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri; Koke, Baena; Simeone, Griezmann, Lookman; Alvarez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Who:\u00a0Barcelona vs Atletico MadridWhat: Champions League quarterfinal, first legWhere:\u00a0Camp Nou, Barcelona, SpainWhen:\u00a0Wednesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)How to follow:\u00a0We\u2019ll have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream. The players of Spanish rivals Barcelona and Atletico might be sick of the sight of each other by next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
What:<\/strong> Champions League quarterfinal, first leg
Where:\u00a0<\/strong>Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
When:\u00a0<\/strong>Wednesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow:\u00a0<\/strong>We\u2019ll have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Barca move clear in La Liga with win over Atleti<\/h2>\n
![\"Barcelona's](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ap_69d38b92cbbb7-1775471506.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
How did Barcelona reach the quarterfinals?<\/h2>\n
How did Atletico Madrid reach the quarterfinals?<\/h2>\n
Views from both camps<\/h2>\n
![\"MADRID,](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/getty_69d4e66bed-1775560299.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C530&quality=80\")
Head-to-head<\/h2>\n
\n
Barcelona\u2019s team news<\/h2>\n
Atletico\u2019s team news<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"