Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will do battle in a much anticipated match in the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday afternoon, as Barcelona wants to try and start things off right after losing out in the Supercopa to Real Madrid last season.
The match will be in Vicente Calderon, Madrid and broadcast on ESPN2, while people inline can follow the coverage on WatchESPN from their computers. Barcelona was able to win last year by a combined score of 6-2 in their two matches and now is the chance for some revenge, but it will be a tough test. Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone and his club are considered the underdogs on Wednesday and David Villa will be a prime factor in the match, as he has scored 20 or more goals in a season three different times.
Check here for the ESPN live coverage of Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid or for more information from Sports World Report.
Barcelona has plenty of talent on their side as well with Neymar, who didn't start the opening match as the team won 7-0 against Levante, but he likely will be a factor on Wednesday. Carles Puyol is out with a knee injury for the match and the lineup for Barcelona likely will be Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Neymar Valdés, Alves, Mascherano, Piqué, Alba and Busquets. The first leg is home for Atletico and the second leg will move to Nou Camp later next week.
Barcelona was up 6-0 at halftime in their first game and while this one will likely be more competitive, that was an excellent start for the club. Lionel Messi had two goals in the match while Pedro also had two and Alexis Sanchez, Dani Alves and Xavi added more scored and having Neymar on the pitch should only add to that scoring flurry. Messi will again be th primary star on the field and Atletico will be wise to make sure he doesn't get any breakaway chances.
After the way they played in the first game, it will be tough for Barcelona to not win this match, but anything can happen and since they are on the road that makes it tougher as well. Atletico might be able to pull out a draw, but chances are they will not win the match. Villa is playing against his old club and it should be very interesting how he plays and Gerardo Martino had a great debut with the 7-0 win and he will be looking for another one.
Atletico started off well with a 3-1 win against Sevilla and they may try to use that momentum to play well on Wednesday. Villa again will be the main star to watch along with Messi and he said that it couldn't be a problem playing against his old team.
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Lineups:
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Mascherano, Piqué, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Neymar
Atletico Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Godin, Miranda, Filipe Luis, Koke, Suarez, Garcia, Turan, Costa, Villa