UEFA Champions League: Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will put their fierce Primera Liga title battle aside when they lock horns in the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday evening.
Los Rojiblancos currently head the La Liga table by a point, with Barca hot on their heels in second, with just seven games remaining in the domestic campaign.
The two Spanish giants will now square off in the last eight of the European Cup, with the first leg taking place this week at the Camp Nou.
It is Barca who enter the tie as favourites, with their home ground advantage backed up by their far greater experience on the continental stage, having made it to the semi-finals in each of the last five campaigns.
Atletico, meanwhile, are contesting their first quarter-final since 1997, when current manager Diego Simeone was still in his playing days but was unable to help prevent a 4-3 aggregate defeat against Ajax Amsterdam.
In team news, Victor Valdes proves Barca's only absentee, with the goalkeeper out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Lionel Messi, though, is fit and firing, having bagged nine goals in his last five outings, including the decisive penalty in the 1-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday.
The Argentina international is also four goals short of breaking Raul's record of 71 strikes in the Champions League.
For the visitors, Javier Manquillo misses out with a neck injury while Raul Garcia is suspended, although the pair prove Simeone's only fresh absentees.
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