FW Antoine Griezmann
One of the best players in the world when he’s in the mood, Antoine Griezmann has admittedly been a disappointment in his first season away from Diego Simeone‘s Atletico Madrid. The France star has scored only eight goals with four assists, meaning he’s provided fewer goals and assists to Barca than Luis Suarez despite playing 700 more minutes than the injured Uruguayan veteran.
Griezmann has shown signs of improvement in each of the past two games. He scored a delightful goal against Getafe and wasn’t bad against Eibar either.
That said, Griezmann has been far from dynamic for Barcelona this season, and if he isn’t playing centrally, he isn’t much of an asset to his team. The partnership between Griezmann and Messi is growing, though, and the technical quality and instincts are there. If the tactics are from the manager, too, then Griezmann could be a danger to Los Merengues.
CB Samuel Umtiti
Griezmann’s teammate on the France national team, Samuel Umtiti is Barcelona’s most talented center back when he’s healthy. Unfortunately, it’s been hard for Umtiti to prove his fitness to Barcelona on a consistent basis, which is why he hasn’t been discussed often in 2019-2020.
But Umtiti should be back in the starting XI on Sunday at the Bernabeu, which could mean bad things for the likes of Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
Umtiti is the only player on Barcelona with two interceptions per game, and the 26-year-old was absolutely tremendous in his last start against Getafe. He had a whopping five interceptions in that match. In eight starts this season, Umtiti has recorded multiple interceptions on six occasions and at least four interceptions in three games.