Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid after the international break, and their rivals have suffered a crucial injury setback with Diego Godin expected to miss out.
The two sides clash at the Wanda Metropolitano on November 24, with Barcelona looking to bounce back after their disappointing defeat to Real Betis on Sunday.
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A trip to the capital to face Diego Simeone’s side will always be a tough challenge, but losing their influential defensive leader could leave Atleti vulnerable.
According to AS, the Uruguayan stalwart sustained a hamstring injury over the weekend which could sideline him for up to four weeks. Further, should he fail to recover in time, which seems highly likely given that recovery timeframe, he will join Lucas Hernandez, Jose Gimenez and Stefan Savic as injury concerns.
That in turn could leave Simeone worryingly short in defence, and so he’ll be hoping that they can make progress in their respective recoveries over the international break and offer him a helping hand to fill the voids.
Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for Barcelona so far this season, as they’ve bagged 34 in just 12 La Liga games and so they’ll relish the opportunity to take advantage of Atleti’s injury woes.
Keeping them out has been the problem for coach Ernesto Valverde’s side though, having conceded 18, as they shipped four at home to Betis at the weekend.
In contrast, Simeone’s men boast the best defence in the league with just eight goals conceded in 12 outings, but with the injury concerns mentioned above in mind, that could be put to the most difficult of tests against Lionel Messi and Co. later this month.
