Barcelona lead Atlético by two points as Rodri is ruled out of Sunday's showdown

Barcelona will be without midfielder Rodri (Rodrigo Hernández) when they visit second-placed Atlético Madrid on Sunday (21:00) with the LaLiga lead at stake, after the club confirmed a minor injury to his right biceps femoris. Barcelona lead by two points, 30 to 28, after 11 games each: a win would stretch that to five, while an Atlético win would put the home side a point ahead before the international break.

Rodri, who joined from Manchester City this summer, went off at half-time of Tuesday's 3-0 Champions League win over Aston Villa. The club gave no timescale, saying only that recovery depends on how the injury evolves, although Mundo Deportivo says early estimates point to around three weeks. Coach Hansi Flick must choose between Marc Bernal, who replaced him against Villa, and Frenkie de Jong, back playing after a knee injury.

Barcelona have seven players in the infirmary, according to Mundo Deportivo. Defenders Eric García and Andreas Christensen hope to make the squad but, with so few sessions left, will not know until shortly before kick-off whether they can play.

Atlético are expected to be without defender Cristian "Cuti" Romero, RTVE and Mundo Deportivo report. He has carried muscle problems since he was substituted against Espanyol, missed this week's 2-0 Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich and is not in Argentina's squad for the November friendlies. El Gol Digital lists midfielders Pablo Barrios (bandaged ankle after the Bayern game) and Johnny Cardoso (close to a return) as the other doubts.

The numbers pit the league's best attack against its best defence. Barcelona have scored 46 goals in 11 games, 18 more than any other side, and Raphinha (15) and Lamine Yamal (10) account for 25 of them. Atlético have conceded eight, the fewest. Barcelona have won all five of their away league games, scoring 22, while Atlético have won four and drawn one of their five at home.

Form points both ways. Atlético have won their last four league games (2-1 at Alavés, 1-0 at Espanyol, 1-0 against Deportivo La Coruña, 2-0 at Levante) and conceded once. Barcelona scored 15 in their last four: 3-0 against Getafe, 5-2 at Betis, a 2-1 home defeat by Real Madrid (their only league loss) and 6-1 against Alavés.

Mundo Deportivo notes that Atlético knocked Barcelona out of both the Copa del Rey and the Champions League last season. After this week's defeat by Bayern, Atlético's Marc Pubill said: "We are going to fix it for Sunday. We want to be first."

Sunday's game is expected to go ahead. COPE radio journalist Isaac Fouto reported, as relayed on Thursday by Sport Aragón, that LaLiga and the Spanish federation (RFEF) had decided to keep the weekend's matches despite a request from the players' union AFE to suspend all football in Spain from 3 to 9 November after the death of Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel. El Gol Digital reports that LaLiga accepted Castellón's request to postpone its Friday game against Eibar, bringing the postponed second-division games to three with Granada v Tenerife and Andorra v Mallorca, and that the rest of the calendar stays on its dates. LaLiga and the RFEF intend to pay tribute to De Miguel in every ground, according to Sport Aragón.