La Liga title rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will also be vying for a place in the Champions League semis, with the first leg taking place on Tuesday evening at Camp Nou.

While the Catalans will be eager to make amends for the El Clasico defeat, los Colchoneros will be hoping to put an end to a six-match losing run in meetings with Barca.

Despite squandering a two-goal lead against Villarreal and losing the El Clasico match to ten-man Real Madrid, Barcelona are still in a good position to lift the La Liga trophy.

However, the two setbacks will have served as a major confidence blow ahead of the decisive Champions League battles and that is something Atletico Madrid will be looking to exploit.

Barcelona have clearly suffered a dip in form of late, and the failure to hold on to a lead two times in a row could place extra pressure on the team ahead of Tuesday’s fixture.

The Catalans were, nonetheless, made 1.53 (8/15) favourites to win the first leg at Camp Nou, but beating Atletico seventh time in a row will be no easy task.

There have been no reported selection problems for coach Luis Enrique after the El Clasico clash, although Marc-Andre ter Stegen will be back in the starting line-up.

Arda Turan and Sergi Roberto are also pushing for starting places, but Jeremy Mathieu and Sandro Ramirez are definitely out.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): ter Stegen – Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba – Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta – Messi, Suarez, Neymar.

Having developed into true European powerhouses under Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid are showing no signs of slowing down.

Los Colchoneros continue to challenge for domestic and European trophies and are currently vying Barcelona for the La Liga title and a place in the Champions League last four.

Atletico Madrid recovered well from the unexpected loss to Sporting Gijon, having hammered Real Betis 5-1 at the weekend, proving that the international break had done the team good.

Diego Simeone’s charges will have much bigger fish to fry in midweek as they travel to Camp Nou, and they will have an extra motivation to get one over their league rivals.

Namely, Atletico have lost last six meetings with Barcelona on domestic stage, although they enjoyed a 2-1 aggregate win in the 2013/2014 Champions League quarter-finals.

There have been some very good news for Diego Simeone as Diego Godin, Stefan Savic and Yannick-Ferreira Carrasco all resumed full training.

Jesus Gamez should be fit to play as well, but Luciano Vietto is rated doubtful and Tiago Mendes, Oliver Torres and Jose Maria Gimenez are definitely out.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Oblak – Juanfran, Godin, Savic, Filipe Luis – Koke, Gabi, Fernandez, Saul – Torres, Griezmann.