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Three games in 10 days
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Four of the five top five leagues return this weekend after the international break and the biggest fixture is unquestionably Barcelona’s trip to Atlético Madrid on Saturday evening. Incredibly, it will be the first meeting of three between the two Spanish giants within 10 days as their LaLiga showdown proceeds their Champions League quarter-final clash.
Atlético and Barcelona are already well-acquainted this season as they also met in a thrilling Copa del Rey semi-final, which Barca edged 4-3 on aggregate and Hansi Flick’s men also won the reverse league meeting 3-1. Diego Simeone has struggled against Barca across recent years, winning just twice across the last 12 encounters. Moreover, Barca are favourites to clinch another LaLiga title this campaign but Atlético are struggling badly and we’ve analysed the points gap between the two rivals at this stage of the season, across the last decade.
Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona: LaLiga points gap compared
Ahead of matchday 30, Barcelona hold a four-point lead ahead of arch rivals Real Madrid at the LaLiga summit. Interestingly, Atlético are a massive 16 points behind Barca, which is the biggest gap between the two sides after 29 games played across the last decade. Simeone’s side have lost some of the aura that they carried previously in his regime and there’s a feeling that his tenure has reached a crossroads this season.
As the graphic above illustrates, the second biggest gap after 29 games between the sides arrived in the 2019/20 campaign. In fact, Atlético have only ever been ahead of Barca in the table at this stage of the season once across the last ten years. They held a one-point advantage during the 2020/21 campaign with Simeone’s men proceeding to win the title. Since that season, Barca have finished every season and there’s a growing feeling that Spanish football has returned to a duopoly after years when Atlético competed for domestic trophies and the Champions League.
