After beating Celtic on their own turf, confidence is sky high for Barça. And there's no reason why we can't continue our winning form against Atletico Madrid in the Vicente Calderon. Atletico, themselves, have started La Liga very well after beating Malaga and Albacete and Barça will be their first real test.

From Barça, Edmilson should return (I think ) after serving his domestic 2 match ban. Expect a big game from Ronaldinho as I'm sure he'll want to put his performance against Celtic behind him. It's very likely that we'll produce a line-up like this:

Valdés - Belletti, Puyol, Márquez, GvB/Sylvinho - Xavi, Edmilson, Deco - Giuly, Ronaldinho and Eto'o.

Larsson and Iniesta should feature in the game.

And lets hope that there are no new injury worries before the game.

Atletico Madrid's stadium is one of the hardest to play at in La Liga. The noise they make is incredible, especially against Barça, and they will definitely be fired up before the game, especially with a week's preparation. So far, we haven't faced any real attacking quality, so it'll be interesting to see if our midfield can handle Ibagaza's runs. Torres will be another man to watch out for, and I'm sure we'll see Puyol marking him throughout the game.

It should be really exciting to watch Edmilson's debut! And I expect Ronnie to come back like crazy 100 % fit! :thmbup: It will be the first time with our arguably best 11 (a crazy 11 I must say! ), if nothing bad happens prior to the game. I think we are bound to score, i just hope that Puyol check mates Torres.

 

I'm not sure about Edmilson's debut watching Gerard's performances in the last 2 games. I think he deserves the continuity.

We must take care because Atlético Madrid seem to have found their best team since they came back to Primera. I think they'll start with only Torres upfront, which is good for us, since he doesn't know how to play alone there. But he will play with Salva (ex Malaga) in the 2nd half with him and then he'll become a bad rival.

Also we must take care of Ibagaza, he has recovered his best form and he is playing really well and this guy can cause a mess.

Also take a look to their new central defender, Pablo, really good.

I expect them to be very defensive. The tickets are already sold out, so the Calderón is going to be a hell. Recall that they are the "Celtic Park" of Spain, amazing atmosphere, nothing to do with the typical silent Spanish fans.

 

I would also like to see Gerard playing for few more ames,you do not change winning team!
Calderon stadion is great,it is good to see on the start how will Barca stars play in that atmosfere!
I hope Barca will win and Eto and Roni scoring!

 

Gerard playing well at that position is a little surprise to me, because it's not his natural position. But let's hope he can continue his good form and become the great player he once promised to be.

 

The match of la liga matchday 3 with both teams being the most impressive from the first two rounds of matches.

I watched this Atletico in the summer and they didnt impress me, but given time to gel they have erased that with performances to the start of the season. As Koeman mentioned i really like this Pablo guy, bought for the price that Mario was signed and then loaned out for. He seems to be part of the newest english fashion craze aswell as it seems that top premiership clubs are interested in him. There other centreback Perea is very fast, Etoo and him will have a good contest. He seemed a bit clumsy in his positioning however giving the striker a chance to attack him so we can use this advantage if Etoo starts.

Edmilson seems as if he can finally make his debut. I dont know if this is the match to change a winning formula as Gerard has played above average but nothing like the rest of the team. However when I saw Edmilson play DMC pre-season he seemed to bring on another level having the positioning and tactical awareness similar to Cocu. It will be interesting to see who Rijkaard opts for although from todays paper talk and knowing that Gerard is effectively 3rd choice in the position it doesnt suprise me if hes dropped.

The Larsson headache will continue i suspect. Its a shame to see this guy on the bench but its a double ended sword. Etoo hasnt hit the ground running and we cant build his confidence benching him. On the other hand Larsson has shown his talent already and scored two from three games. Personally i would go for Etoo to expose the holes that Atletico leave in their setup. Being at home they will be very attacking and the pace of Ronaldinho, Giuly and Etoo could be what we need to breakthrough. If Etoo starts upfront it will give them defensive headaches as Perea will be stuck as to whether keep an eye on Giuly or Etoo (Sergi will have Belletti for thought).

My main fear of this Atletico is Ibagaza, when at Mallorca he showed us what damage he could do in Camp Nou but he never really settled in last season. This season however he seems the player of two years ago and he can break any defence. The attacking side of the team will have a big job to break the balls higher up the pitch before they reach the little argentinian. If we go by the first few games of ours we are very high up the pitch and given a chance Ibagaza could unlock us with one of his wonder passes. The question would then be of who holds the greater pace out of Torres and Puyol.

 

I am expecting a big game from Dinho. If Puyol can neutralize torres, we should win this game. I also expect Giuly to score.

 

I am expecting a big game from Dinho. If Puyol can neutralize torres, we should win this game. I also expect Giuly to score.

That would be great for Giully - four goals in four matches. Ronaldinho should indeed have a good game, but my bet is that Eto'o will definitely score this time round.

 

i think both ronaldinho and eto'o will score!!

 

Both teams will be very confident, we drew here with 9 men last season but it is a different side mentally, and we are also stronger. I would be very surprised if Rijkaard doesn't stick with the winning team, except with Edmilson in place of Gerard of course.

I know Gerard had an OK couple of games but he is always going to be a backup, unless Edmilson is unavailable. Maybe because the whole team was playing so excellent, it made him look much better?

A win is needed and on current form, we can get it. Although Sevilla are a stronger team, this game will be harder because its in the Calderon and they are unlikely to play so defensively like our last two liga rivals.

"El Niño" scored a goal last game but only because of a bad error, unlikely our defense would gift him such a goal. Puyol will stick to him, I hope he won't be too dangerous.

 

If the team plays like against Celtic it will be a win. Atleti is a good team but is far from being the 3rd team of Spain like in the past. I hope Ronaldinho can score after missing the pk against Celtic, he needs confidence.

 

I think we should be cautious about our opponents but if we play to our strengths and play with the quality of football we have recently, we can win.

 

Call me arrogant,but i don't think there's a spanish team that can stop us in any turf right now,if we play at our best level..even if it is so early in the season.Especially if we're taking into consideration non sportive reasons like the momentum of the opposition/home crowd etc.We survived the madness of Celtic Park,i doubt Calderon is 1/10 intimidating

I don't think we have to concentrate on our opponents strengths this season(i'm talking about the spanish league).They got Ibagaza,we've got Ronaldinho,Giuly,Xavi and Deco.They've got Torres,weve got Larrson,Etoo and..Puyol

I predict a 1-3 for Barηa

 

Great game coming, definitely going to watch it. :star:
I wish you good luck, even though I'm looking forward to see Milan's future striker causing havoc to your backline: Fernando Torres.

 

I hope to see Kaka in Barcelona one day, when he's more mature and better.

 

I hope to see Kaka in Barcelona one day, when he's more mature and better.

Unfortunately Milan never sells a player they need...And he is a Brazilian K. We need a Brazilian R, those are the ones we have success with, so I think we should concentrate on Robinho if we are to move for a young offensive Brazilian in the future. He is the best one in Brazil atm, already scored 15 gols in the league. He would fit right in with all the other Brazilian R's at our club.

 

Real Madrid just lost 1-0, I wish to get a victory and we would have our 3 first points of difference. We have the chance to be the only team with 3 victories.

 

Real Madrid just lost 1-0, I wish to get a victory and we would have our 3 first points of difference. We have the chance to be the only team with 3 victories.

Exactly. We should absolutely capitalize on Madrid's defeat. It will be a great way to start pulling away early on in the season.

 

Seeing the both teams of Barca beating the Madrid sisters would be nice

Still I hope to see Torres at his best.. But not on the expense of a Barca defeat..

 

Seeing the both teams of Barca beating the Madrid sisters would be nice

Espanyol is part of those Madrid sisters though! :yuck:

 

We can use this chance and lead in Liga after 3 matches. Hope not to see us lose or draw like last year(s) when we couldn't win when we needed.
Looking forward to this game which can show are we really going seriusly for the title.

If we play some good football and win I say we have only Valencia as our rival for the title. Been watching almost full espanyol - rm game and by rm looks they hardly will take anything this season.

On the other hand Valencia are playing great. They trashed Sociedad. And have some serius team. Looks like they are going for all the titles. They got great players on bench. Not like tonights rm team.

 

I know I tend to be pessimistic, but am I the only one who thinks that a draw would be okay?

 

I know I tend to be pessimistic, but am I the only one who thinks that a draw would be okay?

i think so

Atletico were pretty crap against Albacete, esp in first half, ended up needing 2 goals in 5 mins, i sense a hammering :devil:

 

i think so

Atletico were pretty crap against Albacete, esp in first half, ended up needing 2 goals in 5 mins, i sense a hammering :devil:

Why do I ask? I was waiting for something like this. :tongue: In any case, I don't expect an easy match, they are a confident team now. Perhaps they had problems to score, but they are very reliable in defense too.

 

If Ronnie really find his feet in this game, and the rest of the team is up to the usual standards it could get nasty.

But I agree K4 that a draw would be OK. After all, this is one of the most difficult games of the season.

 

As killah said Atleti were not so good against Albacete. But it's not the same playing against Albacete away and Barça at home in front of Demencia.
Very hard match, but I hope we can silent the fans like we did against Celtic and take 3 points.