FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid for the 2016 UEFA Champions League: Lionel Messi Key but Atletico will Win

By Staff Reporter Apr 04 2016, 16:07 PM EDT

FC Barcelona and Atletico will face off in one of the most anticipated matches of the Champions League quarterfinals this Tuesday, April 5, 2016.

The Match

The game, which takes place at 3:45 PM EST, at the Camp Nou in Barcelona is the first match for the home side since its humbling loss against Real Madrid this weekend. Barcelona had been undefeated for 39 straight matches before being completely undressed by a 10-man Madrid in the final 20 minutes of the match on home field.

Now the team faces an Atletico side that is coming off a 5-1 win over Real Betis. Atletico and Barcelona have a competitive history, though the latter team has been successful in recent years against the Madrid side.

Barcelona has to be very careful especially with the counter that Atletico has and especially if one recalls their encounter two years ago. Atlético eliminated Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League en route to the Lisbon final. Diego Simone will definitely take advantage of this especially after seeing how Real Madrid defeated Barcelona this past weekend.

Barcelona and Atletico both won their respective Champions League groups in the tournament this fall. Barcelona came away with Roma, Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov. The team won four and drew two en route to the round of 16. In that round, the team took down Arsenal 5-1 across two legs.

Atletico's road to the quarterfinals was not quite so easy. The team won its group with 13 points but then struggled mightily against PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16. That matchup ended 0-0 after over 200 minutes of play. And in the penalty shootout, it came down to one miss from PSV to give Atletico a spot among the final eight.

Keys to the Match

Lionel Messi will definitely be the key to the match as he has scored 25 goals in 28 games against Atlético. That also includes three hat-tricks. Currently Barcelona has scored more goals than Atletico in the tournaments which is always helpful. Messi has been clutch in matches against Atletico.

Meanwhile Atletico will count on the helps of Fernando Torres, Antoine Griezman and Ruben Castro, who were crucial in the last match against Betis.