Here's my elevator pitch: We're about to witness a three-games-in-10-days endurance series between two elite clubs whose past eight head-to-heads have produced 32 goals (an average of four per match!), each of their past five knockout meetings have been dramatically decided by just a single goal, where one of the clubs is already in a cup final and where one of these two is guaranteed to feature in this season's UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Throw in the mad fact that who punches their way out of this titanic trilogy might be influenced by the NFL's Miami Dolphins; that in those previous eight meetings, there have been three red cards, a missed penalty, one converted, a crazy goalkeeping own-goal then, anticipation already tingling, you'd circle the calendar dates, pick up plenty of beer and snacks, then tune in eagerly. Right?
(If your answer was either "no" or "not sure," please seek immediate help, up your daily dose of Vitamin C and get much more sunlight.)
Sunday kickstarts the head-on hat trick, and it's a series that can potentially ruin, or make, Barcelona's season. That's because Sunday's hosts, Atletico Madrid, have ever-so-slightly less at stake given that we begin with a LaLiga match that Atleti can actually afford to lose -- and many of their fans will actively want them to.
Before filling in the details of the remaining two thirds of the three-peat (April 8 and 14, by the way), it's best to explain.
Atleti host Spanish champions Barça with the title a more distant phenomenon than Halley's Comet for Los Colchoneros. But if they beat Hansi Flick's injury-hit, tiring league leaders, it will hand Atleti's hated rivals, Real Madrid, an opportunity to move to within a single point of the Catalans. Given that Los Blancos are on the charge and have the scent of Blaugrana debility in their flared nostrils, that's a heady brew for Madridistas -- and Colchoneros! Atleti have no love for Barcelona, but they remain sick to the back teeth of being subjugated by Madrid. Sick of watching them rack up the trophies, greedily consume the bragging rights, and then gleefully use them.