Barcelona's Luis Suárez, Neymar, and Lionel Messi celebrate during their Champions League match against Arsenal. (Photo : Getty Images)
Two La Liga giants square off in one of the four 2015-2016 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals matches as defending continental champions FC Barcelona take on Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou on April 5th, Tuesday for the first leg of their head-to-head.
The second leg of their series is set at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid on April 13th, where the aggregate winner in the end will advance in the semifinals of the said European tournament.
Barcelona progressed in the quarterfinals via a dominating 5-1 aggregate win over English Premier League powerhouse Arsenal FC in the Round-of-16.
Their first leg clash in February ended with a 2-0 blanking Barça right at the Emirates Stadium in London while the Blaugrana finished the job with a 3-1 victory in the second leg at Camp Nou on March 16th, as per BBC Sport.
Brazilian skipper Neymar started scoring at the Nou Camp with an 18th minute strike to David Ospina's net off a brilliant assist from Luis Suárez to close the half with a one-point lead.
Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny equalized the game six minutes into the second half to give the Gunners some semblance of hope in advancing to the next round. However, Suárez took back the lead for Barça at the 65th while Lionel Messi sealed the game with a goal two minutes before full time to complete the hosts' three-goal haul.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid escaped the Round-of-16 competitions via the closest of conditions with an 8-7 win on penalties over Eredivisie defending champions PSV Eindhoven at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on March 15th, as reported by SkySports.
The two teams ended their first leg match at the Philips Stadion with a goalless draw and concluded the second leg in similar fashion even after a 30-minute extension, which required a penalty shootout to finally decide who will advance in the quarterfinals.
Spanish midfielder Juanfran completed the dramatic shootout in favor Diego Simeone's wards where Eindhoven went first in alternate sequence with Los Colchoneros. After Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak stopped winger Luciano Narsingh attempt, Juanfran made his to snag the final eight berth from the Red and Whites.
The predicted result is a close 2-1 victory for Barcelona.
Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): ter Stegen; Alves, Mascherano, Mathieu, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar
Atletico Madrid starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Oblak; Juanfran, Gimenez, Godin, Luis; Koke, G. Fernandez, A. Fernandez, Niguez; Griezmann, Carrasco
