Three talking points as Barcelona are set to face Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are set to welcome Atletico Madrid to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium tonight as they look to play the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals and come out on the winning side. Hansi Flick’s men will know the importance of taking a lead to the Metropolitano.

Diego Simeone has been effusive with his praise for Hansi Flick and Barcelona on multiple occasions this season. Despite this, it is worth remembering that Atletico Madrid beat the Catalan club in the La Liga encounter earlier this season.

It was a game that Barcelona dominated from start to finish and even played the best football that they had until that point in the season. However, the Catalan club’s inefficiency in front of goal played into Atletico Madrid’s hand.

Hansi Flick would have learned from the game and will be extremely careful about how he sets his team up tonight for the important game. With all this in mind, we at BNN bring to you three talking points as Barcelona are set to face Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey.

1. Will Lamine Yamal recover in time?

Hansi Flick’s Barcelona with and without Lamine Yamal have been two markedly different stories. At 17, he is already one of the team’s most important players and it came as a cruel blow to everyone associated with the club that the Spaniard had to miss group training yesterday.

Lamine was particularly targeted by Las Palmas in the La Liga game last weekend, continually being at the receiving end of cynical fouls, not all of which were called. On one occasion, an opposition player stomped hard on the teenager’s foot.

After the game, the teenager put a photo of his foot on social media which was blood-soaked from the challenge. Despite this, Lamine continued to labor on before Hansi Flick decided to take him off to see out the game.

Lamine’s involvement against Atletico Madrid tonight seems touch-and-go and Hansi Flick will be hoping that the teenager can be involved in some capacity. Let’s wait and see how things play out in the next 12 hours.

2. Dani Olmo should start

It has been some time coming but Hansi Flick has opted to be extremely cautious with Dani Olmo following his numerous injury issues. Against Atletico Madrid however, the German coach needs to go with the Spanish playmaker.

Olmo is a magician on the pitch and has had some brilliant cameos off the bench. Against Las Palmas last weekend, he scored a brilliant goal after coming on at half-time and in all honesty, turned a difficult game in the favor of the Catalan side.

So far, Flick has gone with one of Gavi or Fermin Lopez as his preferred third midfielder in the absence of Olmo. However, against Atletico Madrid, the playmaker’s ability to play under pressure could prove to be a huge deciding factor.

Olmo will be extremely crucial to Barcelona in their crucial part of the season and that starts tomorrow. Let’s wait and see if Hansi Flick thinks along the same lines and hands the ex-RB Leipzig man a start tomorrow.

3. Take your chances

As we already covered earlier in the article, the only reason Barcelona lost to Atletico Madrid in La Liga earlier this season in a game that they did not deserve to lose was due to their inefficiency in converting the chances that they created.

Barcelona’s finishing has somewhat suffered a slump in recent times compared to the first few months of the season but the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha will have to step up and take ownership in the game tomorrow.

Atletico Madrid are extremely ruthless. They might not create half the chances that Barcelona create during a game but one thing that Diego Simeone’s side are well drilled in is their ability to take those chances in a high-pressure game.

Whichever team finishes better has a huge chance of taking a first-leg lead tonight at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium and Hansi Flick and Barcelona need to ensure that they are switched on from minute 1 as they look to secure an important advantage in the semi-finals. Let’s wait and see how it goes.