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Getafe de Liga: chronicle, result and goals

BarcelonaAfter touching a drink with his hands for the first time, the Barça scoundrel wants more. The generation destined to rewrite the history of the club avoided a cut of digestion of a Barça in a day where it was time to chew sand. A game as cold as the weather. One of those games that no one will remember in a few years, but which can be key to getting excited about winning the League, defending the three-point cushion over a Madrid that did not fail in Bilbao. Gavi, a tight end, and Pedri, punctual in the play of the goal, led a vital triumph against a struggling Getafe (1-0). The Andalusian allowed himself the luxury of teaching Dembélé and Raphinha, very loose, how to attack with their diagonals. Barça wins games despite having casualties and with players on the pitch who are shadows. Getafe, in fact, could have fished for a point at the Camp Nou, but ran into a giant Ter Stegen that closed the door in their faces. The German puts order at the back and allows the youngsters to do their thing up front.

The Chinese Sun Tzu, in his manual on the art of war, remembered that, at bottom, everything is based on deceiving the adversaries. And after so many days where they talked about the virtues of Barça when they play with four midfielders, Xavi left one on the bench, Frenkie de Jong. He went out to play with three, recovering a system with two ends, Dembélé and Raphinha, to accompany an Ansu Fati who had to make Lewandowski forget, sanctioned. An almost titanic task. Neither La Masia’s young striker nor Barça, who did not surprise a Getafe turned into a stone in the shoe, did not finish. Barça lacked joy in attack and security in defense in a match where the best thing was the result. He wanted to surprise and he was surprised.

Christensen, face and cross

Lucky for Gavi, though. His case is surprising. One day he started running and hasn’t stopped. Impeccable in defensive tasks and always punching in attack, he teamed up with Alejandro Balde on the left and managed to make the Madrid defense sweat. Xavi was making Dembélé and Raphinha switch sides, now to the left, now to the right, in order to see where they could do damage. Both seemed to want to play on the right, but the assist for the goal came from Raphinha on the left. The credit, however, went to Christensen, one of the silent heroes, the ones who are so needed, even if they never win the employee of the month award. Since it was difficult to attack a well-organized opponent, it was after a loss of the ball by Getafe that the Dane set in motion a mechanism that in three seconds and two passes scored the goal. Pedri, ready as a ferret, was already running towards the penalty spot when Christensen recovered the ball and gave it to Raphinha.

It was Barça’s return to the Camp Nou, after playing in Asia to win a Super Cup in the Saudi desert and in Africa to go on to the Cup. He travels around the world and returns to Born, to offer the cup and reunite with a fan who, despite the cold, is full of excitement now that he sees the results coming. The match, however, was difficult to gnaw on. Getafe, who have never won at Camp Nou, put a lot of obstacles on the turf with two defensive lines that looked like barricades. And every time he could, he went on the counter, trying to take advantage of the fact that the Barcelona defense was playing very advanced. Barça were playing with fire, since at the back of Christensen and Kounde there was a whole world that invited Enes Unal and Borja Mayoral to run. But disciplined, the Blaugrana defenders always made the opposing forwards fall into the trap. Every time they thought they could stand alone in front of Ter Stegen, the linesman’s flag reminded them that they had been deceived again. Before the break, he denied the goal to Mayoral after a mistake by Pedri.

Xavi had decided to rest Araujo and Frenkie de Jong, on a day where Sergio Busquets played his 700th game with Barça. When the first one played, people were wondering what Carlos’ son would look like. 700 games later they already know that he has made history and they see him playing surrounded by youngsters. He looks like the school teacher coordinating an excursion, with Gavi, Balde and Pedri doing their thing close by. Xavi, however, decided to send one of them to the bench, Balde, and lost Christensen to physical problems in a game he never started. In fact, the coach from Valais decided to sacrifice Raphinha and give minutes to Kessie in order to play with four midfielders again. Gavi had a free field to run in a team that, to make his people suffer, was more like the one he stung with Espanyol than the one Madrid crunched. The calendar doesn’t help, neither do the downs. Neither the opponent, nor Dembélé’s weak game. Raphinha had already been replaced, in fact. Gavi knew how to do the diagonals that they didn’t do. In attack, too much reliance is still placed on Lewandowski. Without him, 1-0. And thank you A vital triumph that came with a gift lesson: you need to improve, always. Even if you have a title under your belt and lead the League. There is still work to be done.

  • FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto (Marcos Alonso, 76′), Kounde, Christensen (Eric Garcia, 46′), Alejandro Balde (Jordi Alba, 46′), Sergio Busquets, Pedri, Gavi, Dembélé, Ansu Fati and Raphinha (Kessie, 61′).
  • Getafe: David Soria, Iglesias (Álvarez, 84′), Damián, Djene, Alderete, Duarte, Luis Milla (Seoane, 84′), Algobia (Villar, 62′), Carles Aleñá, Enes Unal (Latasa, 84′) and Borja Mayoral (Portu, 77′).
  • Goals: 1-0 Pedri (35′)
  • Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva (Galicia).
  • Yellow cards: Alderete (43′), Dembélé (67′), Enes Unal (82′).
  • Red cards: None
  • Stadium: Spotify Camp Nou. 79,814 spectators.

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