Crucial Wednesday for Atletico, Barcelona, Real Madrid in La Liga

Everyone has their own style and their own way of playing. That explains the complexities in playing against Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has defended Neymar following claims the Barcelona star deliberately disrespects and provokes opponents.

In his five years at Atletico, Simeone has twice knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League, and won the 2013-14 La Liga title on the final day by drawing 1-1 at the Camp Nou, but his team has never actually been victorious over 90 minutes at the Catalan club’s ground.

Atletico coach Simeone also defended Neymar when asked if he would be bothered if Neymar attempted similar tricks against his side on Wednesday.

“And we have to do a lot of things well. It’s practically the same team that has succeeded in recent years, and it will continue to contend for titles”, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said.

“There hasn’t been any easy game against them in the last few years”. “It’s a direct rival”.

Defeat for Atletico could therefore see them drop seven points behind Real Madrid, a deficit that would be hard to recover against a rival that simply isn’t dropping points. Atletico is fourth, four points behind Madrid after four rounds.

Barcelona was stunned at home by promoted Alaves two weeks ago but rebounded with a 5-1 rout of Leganes on Saturday.

A safer bet lies with Barca to win and both teams to score at 12/5. It also trounced Celtic 7-0 in the Champions League.

Samuel Umtiti has been ruled out of Barcelona’s vital La Liga clash with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday because of a knee-ligament strain.

Atletico have scored nine goals in their last two La Liga outings, following up a 4-0 dismantling of Celta Vigo by doling out an even more comprehensive 5-0 thrashing to Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

Victory at the weekend saw Real set a new club record for consecutive league wins and match the 16 straight wins Barcelona managed under Pep Guardiola in 2010/11.

Ronaldo and Bale were rested in the team’s 2-0 win at Espanyol on Sunday after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

However, Enrique sees Atleti challenging for top spot again this season, having won the title in 2014, and he was gushing in his praise of Diego Simeone’s men as he prepares for a game he declares Barca have to win.