Barça asks for the time to beat a Getafe without final hit

FC Barcelona won this Saturday 2-1 against Getafe CF, thanks to the goals of Antoine Griezmann and Sergi Roberto, in a match corresponding to day 24 of LaLiga Santander and which resolved the Catalans before the break, while his rival accused lack of spark after cutting distances with a target of Angel Rodriguez.

This result put Barça with 52 points, tied in the coliderato with Real Madrid. For its part, the Azulón team saw its good league streak truncated and took 42 points in the third provisional place, in the absence of Sevilla playing against Espanyol during the Sunday round of meetings.

The duel of benches between Quique Setién and José Bordalás, with past quarrels and apparently forgotten, was finally taken by the Blaugrana coach. But Setién barely enjoyed Leo Messi's loose flashes, as vanishing points in an insipid match and not without controversy served from the VAR.

The first 20 minutes made it clear that Getafe knows how to deal with adversaries of all kinds. The back lines close together, constant help in each marking and fast players in each band; That usual recipe put Marc-André ter Stegen in trouble, at least a couple of times.

He even scored the visiting team first, by Allan Nyom. At the exit of a corner, his teammate Jorge Molina finished back in the first post and Ter Stegen deflected the ball, although leaving it to pleasure in the small area. The '12' of Getafe appeared to rivet the bottom of the net, although he had previously dodged Samuel Umtiti.

Despite the fact that the main referee, Guillermo Cuadra Fernández, decreed the goal as valid in the first instance, he ended up canceling it by interpreting in the television repetition that Nyom had committed a foul in said struggle, due to a swipe with Umtiti's shoulder.

The locals quickly shook off the scare, inaugurating the score. Umtiti raised the play on the left side and passed the ball to Messi, who from the front of the area leaked at the first touch an assist to Griezmann. The French striker, with a subtle and also first-handed left-footed shot, 'stung' the ball before the rival goalkeeper's exit.

The withdrawal of Jordi Alba, replaced by Junior Firpo because of an injury to the adductor of the right leg, was not being noticed until then. Not surprisingly, Barça extended its advantage in the 39th minute, when Sergi Roberto finished a low pass in goal and from his own Junior Firpo band, active by the usual lane of Jordi Alba.

There, the battle reached a point of anesthesia. Only the usual, Messi, stretched the fans of Camp Nou right on the edge of rest. A header from him, after a center pumped to the second post, was repelled by goalkeeper David Soria with a pretty stretched foot changed.

Angel always meets

Upon returning from changing rooms, the general dynamic was being the same until Ángel Rodríguez entered the field. Virtually everything was summed up in the Junior Firpo race without a prize on the left side, the leaked passes to nowhere by Messi and the frustrated unchecking of Griezmann.

Bordalás' plan was to send his pupils to attack, neglecting the defensive zone. But he didn't care, since Getafe is rubbing shoulders this season with the 'roosters' and a goal would cheer the trick. Said and done, Angel scored 2-1 by flying in an unorthodox way a center of Jaime Mata from the right wing.

Between the two central culé, and taking advantage of the fact that Gerard Piqué had miscalculated the jump for clearance, the '9' blue put fear in the body at Camp Nou. A striker intended by Barça, at the expense of being allowed to sign a substitute for Ousmane Dembélé, thereby caused a stroke.

To make matters worse, Angel himself had the tie in his boots, topping down a side and quite distant foul. Ter Stegen failed to try to catch the ball, but reacted immediately to prevent it from crossing the goal line; also, he touched the ball a third time, preventing Mata from pushing what would have been 2-2.

The answer came with two Griezmann shots, but both deflected and leaving uncertainty until the final whistle. The first of them, after the nth low pass of Junior Firpo, sent him to the clouds; and the second was the definition of a backlash, executing a right too crossed in front of David Soria. The Blaugranas asked for an hour before an opponent without further hitting the conclusion.

DATA SHEET

FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Jordi Alba (Junior Firpo, min. 22); Busquets, Arthur (Rakitic, min. 75), De Jong; Messi, Griezmann and Ansu Fati (Vidal, min. 85).

GETAFE CF: Soria; Nyom, Etxeita, Djené, Olivera (Kenedy, min. 52); Etebo (Amath, min. 68), Arambarri, Maksimovic, Cucurella; Mata and Molina (Angel, min. 52).

– GOALS:

1-0, min. 33: Griezmann.

2-0, min. 39: Sergi Roberto.

2-1, min. 66: Angel.

–ÁRBITRO: Cuadra Fernández (C.Balear). He yellowed Umtiti (min. 49), Junior Firpo (min. 82) and Ansu Fati (min. 85) by FC Barcelona; and Bordalás (min. 18), Mata (min. 73) and Kenedy (min. 89) in Getafe CF.

–ESTADIO: Camp Nou, 80,409 spectators.