The lowdown on Getafe CF
FC Barcelona begin the Liga season with a trip to Getafe at 9.30pm CEST on Sunday. Here are the bare essentials on the azulones (blues).
Where are they from?
Getafe is a district in the south of Madrid, and the site of the Cerro de los Ángeles, which is traditionally considered to be the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s close to the district of Leganés, so the two clubs are natural rivals.
History
Though formed in 1923, this is actually the third different incarnation of the club. The modern-day Getafe Club de Fútbol started life in the lowest tier of Spanish football in 1983 and took just two decades to become, in 2004, only the fourth club from Madrid (after Real, Atlético and Rayo Vallecano) to play in the top flight.
Two decades later and they are still there, having only missed one season of Liga football, and came within just two points of Champions League qualification four years ago.
The Stadium
Built in 1998 the 17,000 capacity Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez was named after the striker born in Getafe who was a regular for Spain at major championships from 1996 to 2002.
Curiously, however, he never made a single senior appearance for the local club. He left for Real Madrid at an early age, became a legend at Betis and signed for Barça in the year 2000. He never managed to establish himself at Barça and left after just two seasons in which he managed two goals in 21 appearances.
Head to head
Barça had gone seventeen games without defeat to Getafe, and had only conceded three goals in the last ten of them, when the run ended with a 1-0 defeat at the Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez in October 2020.
The two visits to Getafe since then have both ended in 0-0 draws, meaning that Barça are beginning their league campaign with a fixture that not only have they failed to win for three years, but in that time they haven't managed to register a single goal either.
Form guide
Second from bottom with just a handful of games to go, Getafe were staring relegation in the face last season. In April José Bordalás replaced Quique Sánchez Flores in an attempt to turn things round, and it worked. They only lost one of their last six games and ended securing yet another year at the top table of Spanish football.
Two of the biggest summer signings are Paraguayan centre back Omar Alderete and Honduran striker Choco Lozano. But former barça man Munir El Haddadi has moved on and will be wearing the colours of Las Palmas this season.
Getafe's preseason
Jaen 2-3 Getafe
Getafe 3-0 Bradford City
Getafe 1-0 Leganés
Getafe 2-1 Independiente del Valle
Getafe 0-1 Reims
Granada 2-1 Getafe
Getafe 4-1 Vitesse
The squad
Most capped internationals
Djené (Togo, 69), Anthony Lozano (Honduras, 40), Stefan Mitrović (Serbia, 36), Enes Ünal (Turkey, 32), Mauro Arambarri (Uruguay, 12), Omar Alderete (Paraguay, 12), Damián Suárez (Uruguay, 7), Domingos Duarte (Portugal, 3), Jaime Mata (Spain, 1)
Barça connections
La Masia graduate Carles Aleñá (below) played 26 games for Barça before going on loan to Real Betis and then Getafe, who purchased the central midfielder on a permanent basis two seasons ago.
Getafe's new striker Choco Lozano spent one season with Barça B in 2017/18 before leaving for Girona. He has developed into one of the most prominent Honduran internationals, and has moved to Getafe after three years with Cadiz.
Top scorers 2022/23 (all competitions)
Enes Unal (14), Borja Mayoral (8), Munir El Haddadi (7), Gaston Alvarez (4)
The boss
After guiding Alavés to promotion into La Liga in 2016, José Bordalás then did likewise with Getafe a year later and spent half a decade at the club, taking them to an all-time record fifth place. He left to take the Valencia job, but despite a Copa del Rey Final appearance, things didn't work out and instead he is now back at Getafe, where he was called back as a replacement for Quique Sánchez Flores late last season.