Having scored sixteen objectives in 4 video games in 2025, Barcelona enter La Liga for the primary time this 12 months tomorrow evening as they face off towards Jose Bordalas’ Getafe at Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
Their observe report on the venue in recent times, nonetheless, is way from spectacular and it’s clear that they are going to be pressured to toil arduous if they’re to take the three factors on the evening.
Barcelona’s final win in Getafe got here again in 2019 when Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann have been nonetheless on the membership.
Since then, the 2 groups have confronted off 4 occasions on the venue, certainly one of which Getafe received and the others .
Barcelona’s potent assault thus faces a worthy rival in Getafe’s well-drilled low-block on Saturday evening and it will likely be attention-grabbing to see who has the final chortle.
Barça Common brings you three speaking factors forward of Getafe vs Barcelona.
A complete completely different ballgame
Barcelona have crashed by way of Actual Madrid and Actual Betis’ defences of their final two video games, placing 5 objectives previous every of them with ease. The Catalans feasted on the dysfunctional defences each groups had and exploited the voids to perfection.
Los Blancos’ had two weak-links on the again in Aurelien Tchouameni and Lucas Vazquez and the shortage of chemistry between the again 4 gave Hansi Flick’s aspect a giant benefit within the buildup.
Los Verdoblancos, in the meantime, tried adopting a excessive line of defense and failed miserably with the midfielders by way of balls simply threading by way of the gaps and giving Barcelona repeated possibilities on objective.
Getafe, nonetheless, current an entire new ball recreation for Barcelona to decode and their energy on the counter-attack just isn’t going to create many inroads.
Famed for his or her impenetrable low block, Jose Bordalas’ males will stick low on their strains and look to create a whole blockade in entrance of their space. It is not going to be shocking if 9 of the ten outfield gamers are defending deep in two strains.
Creating possibilities previous the defensively sound aspect is thus not going to be simple and it will likely be a check of Barcelona’s capacity to complete clinically. If breaking by way of the defence is one fear, capitalising on the few possibilities and scoring might be one other steep problem.
The goalkeeper dilemma
Inaki Pena’s time as Flick’s undisputed choice in objective has come to an finish, and all it took was two-and-a-half video games from Wojciech Szczesny.
The Polish goalkeeper made his debut for Barcelona towards Barbastro in La Liga and began towards Athletic Membership after Flick punished Pena for arriving late.
His robust exhibiting within the Spanish Tremendous Cup semifinal gave him an opportunity to begin within the finale and he as soon as once more put up a strong present towards Actual Madrid till the second he was despatched off.
With each goalkeepers as soon as once more obtainable forward of the Getafe conflict, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see who Flick prefers in objective and opts to deploy as his common league goalkeeper.
In spite of everything, Szczesny has performed sufficient to warrant extra minutes and will nicely exchange Pena on Saturday evening.
The supervisor will thus face a severe forward of kickoff and it seems that whoever he selects for the sport at Coliseum Alfonso Perez will proceed as his major league goalkeeper for the remainder of the season.
No room for error
Barcelona have seen their lead in La Liga disappear in a matter of weeks, and out of the blue, are not within the prime two of the standings.
November and December, in any case, didn’t fairly go to plan for the Catalans within the league as they dropped factors week after week to see their benefit evaporate.
Defeats to Actual Sociedad, Las Palmas, Leganes and Atletico Madrid coupled with attracts towards Actual Betis and Celta Vigo have damage the membership badly and there’s out of the blue no extra margin for error.
Midway by way of the season, Barcelona are six factors behind leaders Atletico de Madrid and 5 factors behind Actual Madrid and easily can’t afford to lose any extra floor.
Tomorrow’s conflict at Coliseum Alfonso Perez might be Barcelona’s first La Liga recreation of 2025, and the crew should make a optimistic begin to get again the momentum. Solely a streak of wins can salvage their state of affairs within the title race now.