What is the story about?
Barcelona
have taken another massive step towards winning back-to-back La Liga titles thanks to hard-fought 2-0 win against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez on Saturday afternoon. The game was as tough as advertised with Getafe employing their usual annoying tactics, but Fermín López and Marcus Rashford found the net in crucial moments to secure Barça’s first victory away at Getafe since 2019 and open up a huge 11-point gap at the top of the table with five games to go.
Reactions & Observations
- The first half went exactly as expected: Getafe sat deep, played physical football, tried everything in their power to frustrate Barça, and went pretty much the entire period without conceding a real opportunity. Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski had good moments early and Roony Bardghji missed a good chance inside the box, but Barça struggled to create consistent good offense.
- Getafe looked set to take a goalless draw into the break, but a fantastic play from Pau Cubarsí to win the ball back in midfield followed by a sensational through ball from Pedri and a neat finish by Fermín López gave the Blaugrana the lead just before halftime, and Barça had a crucial one-goal advantage going into the final period.
- Barça played a better second half, making better use of their superior possession by making more accurate passes and good runs in the final third. Fermín and Olmo missed a couple of great chances, and Gerard Martín had a header saved by David Soria. Barça created a lot but failed to convert, and things were starting to get nervous as we reached the final minutes.
- Then in 75th minute, the decisive sequence of the game: Pau Cubarsí made another outstanding contribution by blocking a shot from Mario Martín at the goalline, and Barça immediately counter-attacked off the Getafe corner with a great long ball from Lewandowski to put Marcus Rashford through on goal, and the Englishman showed great poise to fire the shot past Soria and into the net to finally double the Barça lead.
- Getafe looked completely defeated after the second goal and Barça were able to cruise to the finish, and the final whistle came to seal a gigantic victory in Madrid.
- Considering the fact that this was Getafe away and Barça always struggle there, the performance was actually quite good and Barça created a lot more than usual against Bordalás’ side. Barça are now 11 points clear and the league title is all but a formality at this point, and the only question left is whether or not Barça will have the chance to clinch the championship in El Clásico. Well done, boys!
