# Barcelona's winning run at the Metropolitano stands between Simeone and a LaLiga record of his own

Diego Simeone's next league win takes him past Luis Aragonés as the coach with the most in LaLiga history, and it would also take Atlético top. Barcelona have won on each of their last four league visits to his ground, and they have scored at least three goals in all five of their away league games this season.

Preview · La Liga
Editorial board · 7 November 2026

- Atlético Madrid v Barcelona
- Kick-off: 2026-11-08 20:00 UTC
- Ground: Riyadh Air Metropolitano
- Status: To come

Atlético knocked Barcelona out of two cups last spring, 4-0 up after the first leg of a Copa del Rey semi-final and 2-0 winners at Camp Nou in a Champions League quarter-final. In the league at the Metropolitano the order has run the other way. Barcelona have won on each of their last four visits, the latest 2-1 on 4 April, four days before Atlético beat them 2-0 at Camp Nou.

That is the ground on which Simeone now goes for the record. The 2-0 win at Levante a week ago was his 344th in LaLiga, level with Aragonés, and it took him 565 matches, all with Atlético, against Aragonés's 756. He said then that he did not feel the record was his own. A win on Sunday makes it his, and puts Atlético, second on 28 points after seven league wins running, a point above Barcelona.

Barcelona bring the most productive start the league has seen in decades: 46 goals in 11 matches, a total only Athletic Club's 49 in 1930-31 has beaten, and at least three in every one of their five away games, all of them won. Atlético have conceded eight in the league, though Bayern scored twice at the Metropolitano on Tuesday. Simeone did not pretend otherwise on Saturday. "We know we are going to suffer for a large part of the match," he said; the work was to take the game where Atlético can hurt Barcelona.

The likeliest place is Barcelona's right. Jules Koundé and Xavi Espart are injured, and Hansi Flick said Brian Fariñas, a midfielder who has never played at full-back, can play there, with Rodri also out after going off against Aston Villa. Julián Álvarez, whom Barcelona tried to sign in the summer, has scored four times in nine games against them.

A draw keeps Barcelona top through the international break, whatever Real Madrid do in Valencia. Only an Atlético win changes the order, and it would be the one that leaves Simeone alone at the head of the list.

## Our call

Barcelona should win it narrowly: they have scored at least three in every away league game this season, and a borrowed right-back does not change where their goals come from.

## Coming in

Atlético won 2-0 at Levante in their last league match but lost 0-2 at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, and are second on 28 points. Barcelona beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Tuesday and lead LaLiga on 30.

## Between them

Barcelona won 2-1 at the Metropolitano in April, though Atlético went through that Champions League quarter-final 3-2 on aggregate; Barcelona have won four of the last six meetings, and Atlético's two wins both came in the cups.

## The hinge

Flick has lost three times to Atlético, more than to any other side since he became Barcelona coach.

## Missing

Atlético Madrid: Cristian Romero (muscle). Barcelona: Rodri (hamstring), Jules Koundé (ankle), Dani Olmo (adductor), Xavi Espart (ankle), Roony Bardghji (knee).