Barça and Atlético Madrid renew acquaintances when they meet in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals clash. Barça will be hosting the first leg at the Camp Nou and with their chase for the treble still ongoing, they cannot afford to make things complicated. Therefore, Barça has to kill off Atlético in the first leg to ensure passage to the Semi-Finals.
Barça should only look at Real Madrid in how they eliminated Atlético when they met in the Copa del Rey Semi-Finals. Madrid defeated their cross town rivals 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu and made the second leg a foregone conclusion. Barça find themselves in a similar situation and by all means should obtain a similar result and avoid a difficult second leg at Atlético’s grounds.
Barça had done so at this stage in the past. Barça defeated Bayern Munich 4-0 at the Camp Nou during their first leg of the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals stage. They also demolished Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in the first leg of the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals. Coincidentally, they ended up winning the competition both years. Barca also defeated Atlético 3-1 away in their first leg of their Copa del Rey clash back in 2008-2009 that basically sealed the Madrid club’s fate.
Barça can ill afford a negative or close result against Atlético in the first leg. If this club claims to be back in form, then they have to prove it. Beating Atlético would basically make it up an uphill journey for their opponents in the second leg but would also put other teams on notice. The month of April will be a demanding one for the Blaugrana and what better way to kick off a month than with a convincing win.
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