The defining stretch of Barcelona's season starts this weekend. They face Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday, then again in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on April 8, with the return in Madrid on April 14. Three games against the same opponent in ten days.
Barcelona go into the week four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga with nine games remaining. Win all three against Atletico and the title is almost certain, the Champions League semi-final is booked and the season is a success. Lose or drop points across any of them and the pressure increases sharply.
Flick faces his own injury problems. Raphinha is out for five weeks. Balde and Kounde have only just returned to partial training. Frenkie de Jong is in the final stretch of recovery but uncertain for the first Atletico clash. Rashford is expected to start on the left wing in Raphinha's absence.
For Atletico, Simeone has the added complication of losing Cardoso to injury for at least the first leg. They sit nine points behind Barca in third and cannot afford to let the gap grow. In the UCL, they come in as underdogs but have Julian Alvarez in the form of his life, having scored 14 goals in his last 17 Champions League appearances.
The stakes this week could not be higher for either club.
