Matchplug

Barcelona looked like they would stroll to the La Liga title this season, but with their recent dropped points have seen them come under pressure from Atletico Madrid and this game is the ultimate test that would show if Diego Simeone’s men are pretenders or challengers.

Lionel Messi helped Barca tear Girona apart last weekend, but they failed to follow that up with another win at Las Palmas as they were held to a 1-1 draw. They cannot afford to lose against Atleti here as they would blow the title race open. They have a good record against the visitors from Madrid as they have not lost at home to Atleti in over 10 years even since Diego Simeone became their manager. They have the best home record in the league this season with 2.67 points collected on average at the Camp Nou.

Messi has scored 4 goals in his last 3 games, averaging a goal every 95 minutes and he could be the difference maker here again.

Atleti head into this game in stunning form, they have won their last two games by scoring 9 goals within a week, with Antoine Griezmann netting a hattrick in both games, including all four against Leganes. His partnership with Diego Costa is becoming very lethal. Greizmann is expected to join the Catalans next summer and this game provides the perfect stage for him to show them what he can do.

With so many interesting games in the Serie A this weekend, this game may go under the radar but these two teams remain sleeping giants of Italian football and this Sunday’s derby would be an interesting game.

Inter are back in the top four thanks to their 2-0 win over bottom of the table Benevento but their performance in that game did not show that they are back to their best form that saw them top the Serie A table in December last year.

AC Milan on their path have managed to turn their form around and they have moved to within 7 points of Inter who are 4th on the league table. They now have an outside chance of making it into the top four.

Gattuso has done a great job since taking over the helm of affairs in Milan, taking them to the final of Coppa Italia and they head into this game unbeaten in their last 13 games and they have won 7 of their last 9 games at the San Siro including a Coppa Italia win over Inter in December.

In the 12 games since Gattuso became their manager, Milan has averaged 2 points per game, while Inter has managed just 1.25 points per game in the same period of time.

Leipzig suffered a shocking 2-1 loss at the hands of bottom of the table Cologne in their last league game and they would be looking to bounce back quickly here. That loss was the first time they have lost back-to-back Bundesliga games since May last year and takes them to the sixth position on the league table. However, they are just one point off 4th placed Eintracht Frankfurt.

They have taken just 10 points from 7 league games this year, winning 3 and losing the same amount.  They would be boosted by news that Naby Keita is set to return after missing the last two games through injury, while Timo Werner is also expected to be back in the starting line up after being named in as a substitute the last time.

Marco Reus’ return has helped Dortmund so far and he netted their goal in a disappointing 1-1 draw against Augsburg the last time. That was his second goal in the 3 games he has played since a long-term injury layoff.

That draw made Peter Stoeger the first Dortmund manager to have avoided defeat in his first 9 league games, and the Austrian would be asking his players to keep the record intact for a longer period of time.

Leipzig won the last meeting between these sides in Dortmund last year and they have beaten Dortmund twice and lost once in their last 3 meetings.

AS Monaco’s 3-3 draw with struggling Toulouse the last time out was a surprising result and sees them fail to solidify their position in second place behind PSG. Apart from that result, they have looked pretty solid recently and they had won 4 games on the bounce before that match with Toulouse.

Having been dumped out of the Champions League last year, they now look to be back to their finest form and would be looking for another Champions League qualification and winning the French Cup by the end of the season.

With 11 league games to go, they are now 2 points above 3rd placed Marseille and 7 points above 4th places Olympique Lyon. Radamel Falcao has been out with injury, but he could be back for this game. The Colombian has scored 17 goals in 20 games this season.

Bordeaux also started their season poorly, but they have managed to turn things around over the past months. Although they have collected just 1 point from their past two games, they are still 8th on the league table and would likely end up in a Europa League place at the end of the season.

Before their last two games, they had won 4 games on the bounce and Gus Poyet would be hoping his players can get back to winning ways here. They have won 16 and lost 10 of their last 36 games against Monaco.

Over 2.5 goals scored is our tip for this game.