Getafe 0-0 FC Barcelona: A bittersweet point

Barça were held to a 0-0 draw in Sunday’s visit to Getafe, and coupled with Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory at Cadiz the day before it means the lead in La Liga has been cut from 13 points to 11. That’s still a fabulous position to be in, but is a warning that the season is far from over.

Following the same result against Girona the weekend before, it’s the first time in 18 years that Barça have been involved in two consecutive goalless draws.

The goals haven’t been coming for Barça, but they haven’t been coming for the opposition either. The majestic defensive record holds. 29 games gone, and only nine goals conceded. And that was the 22nd clean sheet, just one short now of Claudio Bravo’s club record of 23.

Denied by the woodwork

It was an interesting if not particularly action-packed game. The standout moment of the whole match was the double occasion created after 25 minutes started by a huge boot up the field from the foot of from Ter Stegen.

Raphinha, perhaps Barça’s liveliest player of the day, struck the first chance onto the post. And Alejandro Balde, playing in a more advanced role than usual, had a great chance to convert the rebound but sent the ball straight onto the same part of the woodwork that his Brazilian colleague had hit just instants earlier.

Tough going

Recent encounters with Getafe have been heavy-going for Barça, and this one was proving to be no exception. As Xavi had predicted in his pre-game conference, breaking the tightly-packed home defence was no easy challenge, and the hot conditions and the dry pitch were doing nothing to help the situation.

Getafe looked comfortable with what they were doing and their counter-attack was a constant concern for a Barça defence that had lost the services of Sergi Roberto to what looks like a hamstring problem after just 15 minutes.

There was plenty of pressure from the Catalans, and David Soria’s reflexes were put to the test on more than one occasion, but the goals just didn’t want to come.

No goals

But they had no more intention of putting in an appearance at the other end of the pitch, where Getafe were making plenty of breaks but rarely getting the ball anywhere where they could cause any real concern to Ter Stegen.

Former Barça man Munir failed to make the most of a couple of chances, but the biggest scare came when Borja Mayoral looked to have scored with just three minutes to go, but the ball glanced narrowly wide.

Ansu Fati was on for his one hundredth appearance, in the process knocking Leo Messi off the podium of the three youngest players to reach treble figures in an FC Barcelona shirt.

But he couldn’t change things either, and Xavi summed it up nicely after the final whistle: “A point isn’t at all bad, but we’re far from satisfied.”

Barça will be catching the train back to Catalonia knowing that two more points have been dropped, but that the Liga title challenge is still in more than healthy condition.