Anticipation for both Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona rose to its maximum level on the eve of the first leg of the Copa del Rey's quarterfinals, which will be played at the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday. The first-leg result cannot possibly be predicted, as both teams are the strongest candidates to win this year's Copa del Rey after Real Madrid was eliminated from the competition.

Striker Fernando Torres will be looking to continue his recent good form. Torres struck twice in last week’s 2-2 draw in their last 16, second leg at Real Madrid, as Diego Simeone’s men outclassed the holders 4-2 on aggregate.

Atletico has been unable to defeat Barcelona in the 12 official games at the Camp Nou played since February 2006, when Fernando Torres scored twice in a 3-1 victory for los Rojiblancos.

In the last 31 official matches played by Atletico this season, the club has achieved 20 wins, six draws and suffered only five defeats.

Atletico's Argentinian coach Diego Simeone said on Tuesday that the "key is to determine how and where to attack. If we can take the game to where we want to and attack where we want to, we will have options. We need to understand how to attack against a team like Barcelona."

Barca seeks to certify its huge improvement in recent games against a highly-motivated rival such as Atletico. Everybody at the Catalan club seemed happy with Barca's La Liga triumph over Red-and-whites ten days ago, in which the Blaugrana provided their best performance since the beginning of the season and won 3-1 against a stubborn and dangerous competitor.

Barcelona pressed, attacked and tamed their hardy rival, while its attacking trio scored all three goals. This 3-1 victory changed everything: Leo's appetite for scoring increased against Deportivo La Coruna last Sunday at the Estadio Riazor, where Barcelona won 4-0 and Messi scored a hat-trick.

Barcelona and Atletico, who are in the second and third place in La Liga respectively, will meet again a week later for the second leg at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.