The two sides at the top of the La Liga table meet in a marquee clash amidst the Spanish league title race as Barcelona host Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Tied with today’s visitors on points, Barcelona sit first on goal difference only, but Atletico Madrid hold a game in hand, as do third-place Real Madrid who reside one point back of both teams above.
Barcelona have fallen on hard times, with just one win across their last five league games resulting in their lead evaporating, while Atleti caught them on the heels of six straight league victories.
Thus, this match represents a monumental clash where Barcelona will hope to reverse both those runs of form while Atletico Madrid will see this as the culmination of their recent charge.
The Jugo Mobile is following the Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid match live, providing score updates, commentary.
Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | How to watch where you are
Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid score
| Score | Goal scorers | |
| Barcelona | – | – |
| Atletico Madrid | – | – |
Location: Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium (Barcelona, Spain)Referee: Ricardo De Burgos
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Starting lineups:
Barcelona (4-3-3, right to left): 13. Inaki Pena (GK) — 23. Jules Kounde, 2. Pau Cubarsi, 5. Inigo Martinez, 3. Alex Balde — 6. Gavi, 17. Marc Casado, 8. Pedri — 16. Fermin Lopez, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 11. Raphinha.
Atletico Madrid (4-3-1-2, right to left): 13. Jan Oblak (GK) — 14. Marcos Llorente, 2. Jose Gimenez, 15. Clement Lenglet, 21. Javi Galan — 5. Rodrigo De Paul, 8. Pablo Barrios, 4. Conor Gallagher — , 7. Antoine Griezmann — 22. Giuliano Simeone, 19. Julian Alvarez.
Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid live updates, highlights from La Liga
30 mins to kickoff: The all-time top goal scorer in this league fixture is none other than Lionel Messi, with his 26 La Liga goals for Barcelona against Atletico Madrid — and 32 if you count all competitions. For the visitors today, their all-time top goal scorer is Paco Campos with 12, not even half Messi’s career total.
?️ From The Vault:The ? ? Atleti#BarçaAtleti pic.twitter.com/9aSuPqVWH1
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 21, 2024
45 mins to kickoff: Both teams have gone with a relatively consistent starting lineup given their available squad, but both made changes in midfield. Both Conor Gallagher for Atletico Madrid and Gavi for Barcelona bring a high work rate to the middle of the park.
The more interesting aspect of this is a focus on who was sent to the bench. Frenkie de Jong and Dani Olmo both miss out for Barcelona, with the latter not having grabbed a goal contribution since early November.
For Atletico Madrid, Samuel Lino was hooked at halftime of their win over Getafe last time out, and is replaced by a pure midfielder in Gallagher. Could that mean a move away from the 4-4-2 and instead put Antoine Griezmann at the 10 with Simeone and Alvarez up front? We’ll see how it shakes out.
1 hour to kickoff: The Barcelona lineup was also released a bit early, and there are also no quirks from Hansi Flick’s XI. Lamine Yamal remains out with an ankle injury, with Fermin Lopez replacing him on the wing instead of the red-hot Ferran Torres. Gavi enters in midfield for just his third start of the league season since coming back from an ACL tear.
The head man Flick will not be on the touchline today as he serves the second of his two-match ban.
1 hour 15 mins to kick: Atletico Madrid have released their starting lineup 15 minutes early. There are no surprises in Diego Simeone’s XI, with only one change as England international Conor Gallagher enters the lineup in place of Samuel Lino.
1 hour 30 mins to kick: Atletico Madrid are wearing their slick gray tops today. A gorgeous away kit indeed!
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) December 21, 2024
1 hour 45 mins to kick: Ferran Torres has been a man in form off the bench for Barcelona of late, often coming in for the aging Robert Lewandowski to finish off games. The former Man City forward says he’s been a better player recently thanks to Lewandowski, saying before this match he’s tried to be “like a sponge” to learn from the famed Polish striker.
2 hours to kickoff: The juxtaposition of Atletico Madrid’s recent league form against their recent history against Barcelona could not be more in contrast.
Atleti have won 11 straight games across all competitions, including their last six in league play. Yet they have lost five in a row against Barcelona in league play and just one in their last 16, failing to score in any of their latest four.
Even crazier, the electric Antoine Griezmann has never scored for Atletico Madrid against Barcelona in a league game, with just one goal contribution in his 15 appearances, an assist in a 1-1 draw back in 2018.
Could that change today? Both Griezmann and Atletico Madrid’s recent form indicate now’s their best chance in quite a while to turn that awful streak around.
❗️Antoine Griezmann has scored against 29 of the 30 teams he has faced with Atletico Madrid in La Liga.
He just has not scored against Barcelona. @mundodeportivo pic.twitter.com/EQd7AibZ5F
— Managing Barça (@ManagingBarca) December 19, 2024
Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid kick off time
This top-of-the-table La Liga match kicks off from the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium on Saturday, December 21 at 9 p.m. local time in Barcelona, Spain. Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories around the globe:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA/Canada | Sat, Dec. 21 | 3 p.m. ET |
| USA/Canada | Sat, Dec. 21 | 12 p.m. PT |
| UK | Sat, Dec. 21 | 8 p.m. GMT |
| Australia | Sun, Dec. 22 | 7 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Sun, Dec. 22 | 2:30 a.m. IST |
Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid lineups, team news
Barcelona will be without teenage superstar Lamine Yamal with an ankle injury keeping him sidelined until the start of 2025. Hansi Flick’s side has failed to win any of the four league games already missed by the 17-year-old in 2024/25 with Fermin Lopez potentially replacing him in the starting XI.
Also missing is none other than the aforementioned head man himself, as Flick serves the second of a two-match suspention.
Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen all remain out injured as well with the Blaugrana looking thin, something fans have become accustomed to in recent years, although they do get Ansu Fati back on the bench today while Ronaldo Araujo is also amongst the substitutes while he works back from a long-term hamstring issue.
Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3): Pena (GK) — Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde — Gavi, Casado, Pedri — Lopez, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
Barcelona subs (12): Szczesny (GK), Astralaga (GK), Araujo, E. Garcia, S. Dominguez, G. Martin, De Jong, Olmo, Torre, Fati, F. Torres, Victor.
Diego Simeone has not confirmed any fresh injury concerns in his camp and he could stick with an unchanged team from last weekend’s 1-0 over Getafe. Only Angel Correa was expected to be absent thanks to a muscle injury, but even he is available off the bench.
Despite scoring a winner off the bench last time out, Alexander Sorloth could remain amongst the substitutes, with Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann in sparkling form up front.
Atletico Madrid starting lineup (4-4-2): Oblak (GK) — Llorente, Gimenez, Lenglet, Galan — Simeone, De Paul, Barrios, Gallagher — Alvarez, Griezmann.
Atletico Madrid subs (12): Musso (GK), Azpilicueta, Le Normand, Witsel, Riquelme, Reinildo, Lino, Molina, Lemar, Koke, Correa, Sorloth.
Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this La Liga match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
