Simeone likes Barca's defense

"I like Barca the way it is now," replied Simeone when asked to compare the defensive styles between Barca and Atletico. "It's a different style of Barca. They have developed and have had a great season."

Contrary to the tradition of attacking, Barca is impressive in terms of defense. Xavi's team conceded only nine goals in the first 29 rounds of La Liga 2022-2023, including 22 clean sheets. Atletico under Simeone is famous for its defensive style, but has received 21 goals since the beginning of the season.

However, in terms of attack, Barca also no longer scored as many goals as before. The leading team in La Liga has only 53 goals through 29 rounds, 10 goals behind Real and only six goals more than Atletico.

Simeone said that Barca improved their defense thanks to the quality of the players. Two rookies Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen both played well after joining in the summer of 2022. Xavi also succeeded in upgrading two young defenders Alejandro Balde and Ronald Araujo. "The improvement in defense has increased the value of Xavi's work," said Simeone.

On the evening of April 23, Simeone and Atletico will be guests at Barca's Camp Nou. Atletico are third in La Liga with 60 points after 29 rounds, five points behind Real and playing one game less. Barca is leading with 73 points after 29 rounds.

Atletico won the last six rounds and are unbeaten in the last 13 rounds. This makes the match on the Camp Nou field unpredictable. According to Simeone, just as Barca improved defensively, Atletico have improved and matured. "Sometimes people stigmatize us," Simeone said. "But they don't watch, but comment just to give their opinion."

Simeone has not won in all 15 previous visits to Camp Nou - the most in this coach's career when with Atletico as a guest at any away field.

Meanwhile, as a coach, Xavi has won both matches against Atletico in La Liga. If he wins again today, the 43-year-old leader will become the second Barca coach to win all three of the first three matches against Atletico, after Luis Enrique.

Xavi started to lead Barca from the middle of the 2021-2022 season. Over a year of work, he helped Barca to second La Liga 2021-2022, win the Spanish Super Cup 2022-2023 and is about to win La Liga 2022-2023.