Getafe: Indoor Climbing & Adventure

BarcelonaBravo to those who chose a performance of shepherds, an evening of shopping in a busy shopping center, the Saturday movie on public TV or simply looking out the window or even the roof of the house before attending the show that Getafe and Espanyol gave on a December night that will not go down in football history. But bravo also for the white-and-blue resistance, happy for another weekend for a triumph as unspectacular as it is important. It is the fourth in a row in the League and consolidates in European positions a team that has not been seen this high in the classification for three years. The derby on January 3rd in Cornellà-El Prat will be interesting.

Getafe-Espanyol was the antithesis of a match for fans. This is usually said when the duel can arouse passions beyond the teams playing it. But the truth is that the show only hooked the most loyal fans of the two teams involved, who base their power on fighting, brawling and making the most of offensive merits. Confronted on a football field, the Madrid and Catalans offered in the first half a large repertoire of pushes, inaccuracies, protests and small ambushes in which the referee, the prone Gil Manzano, with a very easy card, put his boots on especially with the locals, who usually express themselves at the limit of the regulation. Getafe didn’t test Dmitrovic once before half-time, while Espanyol, without the ever-electric Dolan, only required David Soria from Edu Expósito’s free-kick. Given the panorama, the most entertaining part of the first leg ended up being counting fouls – 17 in 45 minutes – and laughing at Kike García’s bravery while the paramedics treated him for a scratch from Aqbar.

Apparently, the break did not help Manolo González and Bordalás to change anything. The same footballers continued at the restart. But something began to move among those present, especially on the white-and-blue side. In the 47th minute, Expósito demanded an excellent intervention from Soria; and in the 52nd, Cabrera put Espanyol ahead with an unappealable header at the exit of a corner. The Uruguayan, who previously played at Getafe, did not celebrate his second goal of the season, a goal that would end up being enough to add three golden points. In inferiority to the marker, als blues they were in a hurry. Bordalás switched from a system with five defenders to filling the field with strikers and midfielders, but Espanyol did not panic with a reaction that was more noisy than effective. He closed himself in his field to keep the favorable rent and wait for the minutes to pass. The parakeets won’t be exquisite now, after so many years of suffering.