FC Barcelona 1-0 Getafe: Victorious again!

After three wins by comfortable margins, Wednesday brought a reminder that not every game is going to be like that. Despite taking a deserved and relatively early lead, and no matter how long and hard they pushed, Barça couldn’t find a second.

It meant that the final minutes of this game were very nervous times for Barça fans. Indeed, there were a couple of moments very late on when Getafe came frighteningly close to snatching an equaliser.

Thankfully they didn’t, and the incredible winning start to La Liga 2024/25 continues. That’s now seven games and seven wins, just one more victory short of matching the team’s all-time best start to a season under Tata Martino eleven years ago. 

Lewy does it again

Logic would never have predicted such a nervy finale. Barça had been knocking on the door for 19 minutes before getting off the mark when Getafe keeper David Soria fumbled Jules Kounde’s high cross and the ball fell in the worst place he could have wanted. Robert Lewandowski doesn’t waste chances like that and that was his seventh goal in as many games.

Blaugrana goals have been raining so hard in recent weeks (16 in the last three outings) that another big win looked very much on the cards. But not this time.

What could have been a second for Lewandowski was denied by the lineman’s flag. Raphinha in particular looked set to add to his record of being involved in at least one goal in every game so far, and will be annoyed with himself for failing to tuck any of his many chances away.

Lamine Yamal was everywhere to be seen, adding fantasy each time he got the ball. He too came agonisingly close to scoring, even hitting the crossbar at one point, while Eric García skied the best chance of all

Unrewarded insistence

Getafe have one of the best defensive records in the competition, and we got see why. They were thoroughly disciplined at the back and Soria in goal did more than enough to redeem himself for his earlier error.

But while strong at the back, Getafe have a lot less to offer going forward. They have yet to win this season, and offered very little suggestion that that was going to change today. Iñaki Peña, standing in for the injured Ter Stegen, had very little to do.

However, with the clock ticking down and Barça frustratingly unable to put this game to bed, in the last ten or so minutes the whole dynamic of the game changed.

Late scares

Suddenly most of the ball was in Barça’s half of the field and there was a very real fear that Getafe might just snatch a late equaliser.

Indeed, they probably would have done had Pau Cubarsí not managed to beat two opposing strikers to what would otherwise have been a surefire goal, and then Borja Mayoral scuffed the simplest of chances.

The Estadi Olimpic was still breathing a massive sigh of relief as the referee’s whistle blew time on a game that didn’t bring the same blaugrana brilliance that we’ve been treated to this September, but was nevertheless still another win. That’s 21 out of a possible 21…

The mission now is to make it eight out of eight when the team visits Osasuna on Saturday.