Barça cannot find a solution to the problem that has been plaguing it for months. He performs with flying colors against the greats – the defeat against Atlético belongs to the mysteries of football – and crashes with rivals who are fighting to avoid relegation. Getafe is one of them, and one of those that generate the most complications for Barça, which has not won on the Madrid field since the 2018-2019 season. Since then, one defeat and four draws, the last one yesterday. Barça wasted their early advantage and got tangled up in a first half that allowed Getafe to show their heads two or three times. In one of them, he scored the tying goal, pushed by defensive confusion. Nobody was where they were supposed to be.
When Barça reviews the accounts of this League, they will wonder where they suffered the biggest blows. The answer will be simple: against teams like Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, Leganés, Osasuna, Celta or Getafe. To date, he has achieved six of the last 24 points, a terrible statistic that, day by day, diminishes his chances of final success. In Getafe he had enough chances to win and played most of the game with the right attitude, but it was a game that allowed no distractions. And Barça was distracted after Koundé’s goal, after a play that is beginning to be common in today’s football. The winger surprised everyone with his diagonal to the striker position. Real Madrid, for example, has sparked Carvajal in these types of actions.
Flick’s team had enough chances to win
Those kinds of advantages are difficult to obtain in Getafe, in the middle of the plateau winter and against an opponent that scores very few goals, but hardly concedes them. Between Barça’s powerful start and its numbness, only Koundé’s goal measured. Far from persisting in the harassment, he allowed Getafe to place the ball again and again and benefit from the divided balls. It was not the night of Casadó and Gavi, opportunely replaced in the second half by De Jong and Dani Olmo. Of the initial trio of midfielders, only Pedri survived, by far the best of the game.
Compared to previous sad afternoons and nights in the League –Balaídos, Betis, Las Palmas…–, Barça functioned with more character and less condescension. The great novelty of the match was the lack of acrimony from Getafe, brave and creative in the use of the clock, but far from their usual foul numbers. With the tie, they resigned themselves to the defensive huddle, played by a collection of great footballers and all the experience in the world.
Raphinha made it 0-2 with this header that went wide
Dani Duch
Barça’s left wing worked better than the right, to the point of obstinacy. Balde was deployed with fierce insistence, but the match required more participation from Lamine, who had an entertaining fight with the powerful Diego Rico. He intervened less than what suited the team, although he managed to add a couple of excellent scoring chances. Lewandowski had to dance with two centre-backs, Alderete and Domingos Duarte, who are always delighted to deal with forwards with Lewandowski’s characteristics.
After the exhibitions against Real Madrid and Betis, Barça missed the boat in Getafe, on the most favorable of dates. Atlético lost in Leganés and, a few kilometers away, Barça did not maintain the necessary pace to appear in the League. It is the most attractive of the teams, the most promising in European football, but it lacks long strides.
