FC Barcelona will be looking to secure their first trophy of Gerardo Martino’s reign as manager tomorrow, as they take on Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou in the second-leg of the 2013 Supercopa de España. With the tie evenly poised at 1-1 following Barcelona’s come-from-behind draw at the Vicente Calderon, both sides will have eyes on the trophy, although ultimately, it is likely to come down to this 90 minutes and the full-time result tomorrow evening, rather than Neymar’s superb headed away goal.
That’s not to say that Neymar’s goal will not play it’s part; few expected last year’s competition to go to away goals, in spite of the fact that the two contesting teams (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona) were so evenly-matched – yet after two matches, the title was awarded to Real Madrid on the away goals rule, marking the first-time in the tournament’s history that the two-legged affair had ended in such a manner.
Atletico Madrid however enter the match knowing that an away goals win is perhaps their best, or at least most realistic shot at taking the trophy back to the capital. They haven’t escaped the Camp Nou with a victory in eight years, a streak that goes back nine matches – and even then, Atleti have only avoided defeat once, in a 1-1 draw back in 2006.
Since that night, Atletico have lost seven straight at the Camp Nou, conceding a staggering 28 goals in the process. Lionel Messi alone has scored ten goals in his last four Camp Nou starts against Madrid’s other club.
Diego Simeone will point to Atletico’s impressive away form – Los Colchoneros last tasted defeat away from home back in February, against Rayo Vallecano – but no matter how he looks at it, he will know just how difficult a task awaits his squad.
Both Lionel Messi and Adriano Correia are back in training with the rest of the squad, and as a result, Gerardo Martino is expected to have a fully-fit squad to pick his starting line-up from – of course with a few exceptions, as Carles Puyol, Ibrahim Afellay and Isaac Cuenca are all still sidelined for the foreseeable future. There are no suspensions either – and consequently, Martino is tipped to name a similar team to the one that started last week’s fixture at the Calderon.
Victor Valdés will start in goal hoping to keep his third clean sheet of this young season, and while Jordi Alba has received a little criticism in recent weeks, Martino may opt for an unchanged backline as well, particularly as Adriano has only just recovered from injury. My feeling is similar to the shifting public opinion on Alba – he can be a liability – but I also believe that Barcelona can "get away" with starting Alba against top teams; just as long as it’s at the Camp Nou. Which is just as well, given that Adriano has missed the cut.
