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Atletico Madrid face a crucial trip to La Liga leaders Barcelona next weekend.

Despite stumbling to a 0-0 draw at Getafe, La Blaugrana are still red hot favourites to win their first league title since 2019, with an 11-point lead over Real Madrid.

However, Atletico are battling to edge out Los Blancos, in the race for second place, after easing to a 2-1 win over Almeria.

That result means Diego Simeone’s side will head to Catalonia full of confidence, on the back of six successive league victories, and an unbeaten streak of 11 matches, across all competitions.

Simeone’s plans have been hit by a pre-game setback, with Spanish international Marcos Llorente set to serve a one game ban, for the trip to the Camp Nou.

Llorente picked up his fifth league booking in the win over Almeria and will break a run of nine consecutive starts in Simeone’s engine room.

Saul Niguez is expected to fill in for Llorente at the champions elect, with his first start since the February 1-1 draw at Real Madrid.

This article first appeared on Football Espana and was syndicated with permission.

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