PREVIEW: Barça v Getafe

It’s an early start for Barça this Saturday (4.00pm CET) as they look to make it three wins in a row in La Liga and keep up the pressure on leaders Real Madrid. But they’ll need to do against an extremely solid Getafe side who have slowly climbed up the table to the dizzy heights of third place.

What has traditionally been a routine home fixture could be very different this season.

Team news

Luis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé remain unfit, but goalkeeper Neto has been declared ready for work and returns to the squad. Nélson Semedo is also included after recovering from a bout of tonsillitis but Clément Lenglet misses this game through suspension. The French centre back was sent off in the 3-2 win at Betis last weekend.

Three players from Barça B have been included. Ansu Fati, a regular in recent call-ups, is joined by Uruguayan centre back Ronald Araújo and a little bit of history. Rey Manaj, the striker recently signed from Albacete becomes the first ever Albanian to be named in a Barça first team squad. The 22-year-old already has eleven full international caps for his country.

Did you know?

Both teams will be coming into the pitch for this game with a message of solidarity with the Chinese people affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Three of the last six editions of this game at Camp Nou have witnessed Barça scoring SIX goals.

Getafe have not only just won four league games in a row, but haven’t conceded a single goal.

This season, Getafe’s Ángel Rodríguez has come on as a substitute to score seven goals and give two assists, which has already broken the Liga record for the last decade.

Barça are unbeaten in their last thirteen games at home to sides from Madrid.  

Last five meetings

28/09/19 Getafe 0 Barça 2 (Suárez, Junior)
12/05/19 Barça 2 (Vidal, OG) Getafe 0
06/01/19 Getafe 1 Barça 2 (Messi, Suárez)
11/02/18 Barça 0 Getafe 0
16/09/17 Getafe 1 Barça 2 (Suárez, Paulinho)

Last five games

Liga: Betis 2-3 Barça
Copa: Athletic 1-0 Barça
Liga: Barça 2-1 Levante
Copa: Barça 5-0 Leganés
Liga: Valencia 2-0 Barça

Liga: Getafe 3-0 Valencia
Liga: Athletic 0-2 Getafe
Liga: Getafe 1-0 Betis
Liga: Leganés 0-3 Getafe
Copa: Badalona 2-0 Getafe

Happening elsewhere

Leaders Real Madrid are in action on Sunday (9.00pm CET) at home to Celta Vigo.

What they’re saying

Quique Setién (Barça manager): “Getafe have a game-plan and it works for them. They’re in Europe, third in the league … they’re highly committed and everything is going right for them. It won’t be an easy game … I don’t know if they can keep up the pace with us and Madrid, but they’re not a team to be ignored.”

Marc Cucurella (on loan to Getafe from Barça): “Of course I’m excited because I was at Barça for so many years. The Camp Nou is a special stadium and we’re playing well. It will be nice to get something positive out of the game.”

José Bordalás (Getafe coach): “Few teams get results at Camp Nou but we have a lot of faith in this team. This season the players have shown what they are capable of doing.”

Jorge Molina (Getafe captain): “Of course it’s very hard to go to the Camp Nou but we really do believe we can get a result. We’re totally convinced we can.”