Barcelona Falls to Getafe in LaLiga Match

As almost always, Getafe presented itself as an uncomfortable team that mercilessly hammers its rivals in every action. And even more so after losing 3-0 to Real Sociedad in the previous match, with their pride hurt by conceding so many goals when they are used to hardly conceding any.

Barcelona woke up to the worst possible Getafe during the first half-hour, in which they couldn't breathe due to the suffocating pressure from José Bordalás' ten warriors. From the two up front, Colombian Juan Camilo "Cucho" Hernández and Jaime Mata, to the four in the back, everyone applied themselves to destabilize Koeman's idea.

The Dutch coach rotated the lineup with the Ferencvaros in mind and surprised with the inclusion of Frenchman Ousmané Dembélé and Pedri. He also debuted Sergiño Dest on the left side, playing on his weaker foot, due to Jordi Alba's absence. At least during the initial stages of the match, it seemed that nothing was working for a group at the mercy of Getafe's push.

In those thirty minutes, Barcelona could barely hold onto the ball. They couldn't find any spaces to counterattack. There was always a Getafe player pressuring their opponents, leaving them no time to think and no outlet for the verticality that Koeman longs for.

With the exception of a shot off the post from Messi, the Barcelona team showed no signs of their best qualities. And that chance was a warning of what Pedri was going to do when Getafe let up. He showed an impressive spatial vision that would later become a constant rather than an exception.

While Barcelona managed to gain control, Getafe, thanks to interceptions and movements from "Cucho", managed to generate danger with quick steals and direct attacks. In one of those, the Colombian played a good pass to Nemanja Maksimovic, whose shot from inside the box was saved by Neto.

It was the best opportunity for Bordalás' men, who, tired, surrendered control to Barcelona in the last quarter of an hour of the first half. Pedri reappeared there to demonstrate that his impact on Messi's shot off the post was not an isolated act. The midfielder took control and began to show off with ease and the simplicity of a mature player.

He was the one who played the through ball that Antoine Griezmann wasted exactly 30 minutes into the match. The Frenchman made a movement reminiscent of his best times, but inexplicably sent the ball into the stands with a shot when he was in front of David Soria's goal.

Jaime Mata responded with a shot that went wide, a mirage of what Getafe had been in the early stages of the match. Barcelona did not back down for the rest of the first half and unsuccessfully threatened Soria's goal until halftime.

In the second half, the script returned to that of the start of the match, with Getafe once again having the energy and strength to bother Barcelona in their build-up play. They succeeded and, unlike in the first half hour, they were rewarded with a clear penalty by Frenkie De Jong on Djené Dakonam, which Jaime Mata did not fail to convert.

With the score at 1-0, Koeman made substitutions and brought on the two sacrificial players from the start: Ansu Fati and Coutinho replaced Dembélé and Pedri respectively, who bid farewell with a good performance after an exceptional first half.

They both had the difficult task of breaking through one of the best defenses in the league, a defense that thrives when playing with a lead. In that state, Getafe is an expert in the art of cunning, of controlling the tempo and making the clock always run in their favor.

Practically until the 70th minute, Barcelona failed to scare Soria, who didn't have to make any effort to see Ansu Fati's shot from outside the box go far wide of his goal. It was the only real attempt since Getafe's goal and until the end of the match because Bordalás' men made the pitch very narrow and small.

The minutes passed and Barcelona, frustrated, couldn't penetrate Getafe's wall, who even had the chance to score a second and third with two clear opportunities from "Cucho". The post and a wayward shot above the goal prevented it.

In the end, Bordalás took the moral victory even with Djené's own goal off the post in added time. His tactics triumphed and the Alicante-born coach celebrated earning three points against a big team for the first time: he had never beaten Real Madrid, Atlético or Barcelona before. He finally did it, faithful to his style, chipping away like a pile driver until securing a victory through persistence.