The Barça goes back to remain dry in Getafe
Xavi’s men reap their second consecutive goalless draw and are determined to extend LaLiga
MADRID, 16 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
FC Barcelona, leader of LaLiga Santander, has harvested this Sunday a new goalless draw against Getafe (0-0) on the twenty-ninth day of competition, a result that prevents Xavi Hernández’s men from being able to seal the title and that allows the azulón team continue to open a gap on the relegation zone.
After the 0-0 on Monday against Girona, the culé team went back to dry for the second time in a row, something that had not happened for 18 years. A double stick in the first half could offer them an advantage, but it did not finish killing a match in which Quique Sánchez Flores’ men were on the verge of rescuing the three points in a last action by Borja Mayoral.
With the novelty of Jordi Alba as a left winger, circumstances forced Xavi to retouch his scheme when the first quarter of an hour had barely elapsed. Sergi Roberto’s muscle injury made Eric García jump onto the field, whom the culé coach tested as a right-back, before exchanging positions, already in the last minutes of the first half, with Jules Koundé.
Until then, no one had managed to bring danger to the rival area, except for ex-Barcelona Munir in a header in the 4th minute that went wide. Another header from Enes Ünal over the crossbar after 25 minutes scared a slow and offensively bogged down Barça.
The leader responded immediately in a very clear double chance in which Raphinha found himself with the stick in a one-on-one with David Soria and in which Alejandro Balde, in the rebound and with the azulón goalkeeper defeated, also crashed the ball into the wood .
With Getafe very active after the restart, however, it was the visitors who tried to surprise first with a volley from Franck Kessié that was saved by Soria, although the play was ruled out for offside. Shortly after, Robert Lewandowski headed a ball to Alba’s cross that skimmed the long post of the Getafense goal.
By then, Quique Sánchez Flores’ men began to suffer in defense and only David Soria kept them alive. The azulón goalkeeper appeared in the 75th minute to put a providential hand on a shot from Raphinha from outside the area, which was also thwarted minutes later by another opportunity just before the best one for the local team during the match.
In the 86th minute, in a counterattack on the right by Algobia, Eric García came out late at the crossroads and Ronald Araujo failed to clear and everything turned upside down for Borja Mayoral, who did not know how to take advantage of the opportunity and sent it off when he stayed only before Marc-André Ter Stegen.
In this way, the Catalans are left with 73 points, 11 ahead of Real Madrid with nine days to go. For its part, Getafe accumulates 31 units, four for rent above the danger zone.
DATA SHEET.
–RESULT; GETAFE, 0 – FC BARCELONA, 0.
–LINEUPS:
GETAFE: Soria; Iglesias (Portu, min.67), Alderete, Duarte, Djené, Damián Suárez (Gastón Álvarez, min.83); Maksimovic (Algobia, min.76), Milla; Munir (Aleñá, min.76), Mayoral and Ünal (Gonzalo Villar, min.83).
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto (Eric García, min.18), Araujo, Koundé, Balde; Busquets, Kessié (Ansu Fati, min.68), Gavi; Jordi Alba (Ferran Torres, min.68), Raphinha (Pablo Torre, min.87) and Lewandowski.
–REFEREE: Pulido Santana (C. Las Palmas). He admonished Omar Alderete (min.42) and Damián Suárez (min.57) for Getafe and Gavi (min.2) for FC Barcelona.
–STADIUM: Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. 14,854 viewers.