The Barça buy time thanks to Memphis

The only thing that Barça can buy is time and that was achieved thanks to the long-suffering victory against Getafe 2-1 which in no way clarifies the team's outlook. Given that Barça cannot sell to anyone either, the most that is asked of them is to sell illusion. And neither. Only Memphis Depay inspires to a hobby that still does not understand very well what is the project of a team in which the supposed stars do not appear, those who have to leave do not leave and where no arrival is expected.

There was not even time for the public to be able to assess the changes that Ronald Koeman made in the starting team with the return of Ter Stegen to the goal, the ownership of Emerson to the detriment of Dest and the choice of Sergi Roberto as a substitute for Pedri. The latter's goal at 90 seconds into the game gave life to the fans' hope. The Barça, as it happened before the Real Sociedad in the first day of the championship, gave the sensation of living in constant debate from Monday to Saturday and on Sunday to start playing.

The play of the first goal for the Blaugrana had all the ingredients to please Koeman. An anticipation of Lenglet, who connects with Memphis, who enabled Jordi Alba to finish off his center Sergi Roberto. A goal a thousand times rehearsed in training that came first in a game. For leaving, even Braithwaite stepped away in good time so as not to disturb too much.

But unlike what happened on the first day, Barcelona did not take advantage of the inertia of the first goal to prevail against a Getafe that looked good at first out of the imagined match. Those of Míchel, with patience, Aleñá and Arambarri began to work the game. The stands disconnected from the task thinking that the duel was won and instead of encouraging Barça they began to insult Mbappé and PSG and suddenly, the game was tied at one at 20 minutes.

A loss of the ball by Griezmann generated a wall in the front of the area between the former Blaugrana Aleñá and Sandro that the Canary striker sent to the network before the impotence of Ter Stegen and the applause of Alba and Busquets, impassive and scoring at a distance.

From there, the game got dirty and the usual ghosts came to Barça. Griezmann wanted to, could not and generated murmurs in the public; Araújo got lost between shoving with Sandro; Ünal drove everyone crazy and that's when Memphis appeared to calm the game.

The Dutchman scored 2-1 after half an hour in a personal move in which he challenged his marker. Things were back to normal before the break, which was reached without hardly playing, with many fouls, some of them dangerous such as the butt between Ünal and Ter Stegen, which throughout the game made it clear that inactivity takes its toll: he had to measure reference distances in the goal.

The second half began with the script with which the first part ended. Barça played with fire, as it seemed to settle for numbing a game that had not been archived, Getafe, on the other hand, put more volts on the field with the entry of Damián and Getafe at the first quarter of an hour after the restart had already scared Ter Stegen, but Aleñá made a mess in the small area.

Míchel saw that it was now or never and gave entrance to Mata and Timor, while Koeman reacted by entering Dest for Emerson, a move that would not enter the annals of football strategy either.

On the other hand, more risky were the changes with 20 minutes remaining when Braithwaite and Sergi Roberto left injured and entered Nico, 19 years old and Gavi, just turned 17, who in five minutes drove Djené crazy, which ended up asking for the change, which was appreciated by the canterano culé, who was taking some monumental stakes from the center. In fact, Gavi was the highlight of a final match in which, once again, Griezmann went for the cat flap. Another that does not sell illusion, but neither buys time.