Barça 2-1 Getafe: Another victory at Camp Nou

FC Barcelona maintained their 100 per cent home record with a 2-1 defeat of Getafe on Sunday afternoon.

Although Sergi Roberto put the blaugrana ahead after just two minutes, and Memphis found a quick and exquisite answer to the visitors’ equaliser, Barça never managed to gain full control of a game against an opponent that doesn’t score too many goals but doesn’t concede many either.

When 17-year-old Gavi came on for his competitive debut, he became the fourth youngest Barça player in Liga history (only Vicente Martínez, Ansu Fati, and Bojan were younger).

The win leaves Barça as one of seven teams that share the lead in La Liga on seven points, pending what Atlético Madrid do later in the day.

Flying start

It was some start! Barça took the lead with the first attack of the game. Jordi Alba provided the cross and although Martin Braithwaite couldn’t make contact, Sergi Roberto could. His second goal of the season and Barça were ahead almost before the game had even started.

The visitors were quick to respond though, and before the first 20 minutes were up they were back level.

Curiously it was two former Barça players who did it. Carles Aleñá gave the assist and Sandro Ramírez finished the job.

But smack, bang on the half hour, Barça were back in the lead.

Dutch connection

Memphis collected the ball from his compatriot Frenkie de Jong, and although it didn’t look like he’d be able to find a line through to goal, he was able to shimmy into position and pick his spot with dazzling confidence.

This man knows how to score goals, and makes the difficult look easy. 2-1.

Holding on

We saw three goals in the first half, but it hadn’t been the liveliest game of football the Camp Nou has ever seen. Following the restart there was a continuing lack of truly gripping action for the 26,543 fans in the stadium to enjoy.

In fact it was Getafe who were getting the best chances. With half an hour to go, Barça may have had almost 70% of the possession, but the visitors had had twice as many shots on goal.

Not that it was ever too much trouble for Ter Stegen (fresh back from injury) and his defence to keep those from getting anywhere near their net, but the one-goal difference was rather too close for comfort.

As the minutes ticked by, Getafe had less and less fuel in the tank, and Barça had the best of the closing minutes. Ronald Araujo did have the ball in the net but the flag was up, and Memphis came extremely close with a diving back-heel (!), but there was to be no further score.

Three more points in the bag and La Liga now takes a week off for the international break.