The lowdown on Getafe CF

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.

And they’ve managed to hold on, having only missed out on one of the last fifteen editions of La Liga.

Their traditional local rivals have always been Leganés, and when the cucumber-growers also earned promotion last season, the two clubs were able to meet for first time in a first division fixture.

Stadium

Opened in 1998, the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez is named after the most famous player to ever come out of Getafe’s youth system, despite the fact that he never played a single senior game for the club! Instead, Alfonso Pérez made his professional debut for Real Madrid, made his name at Betis, and was also at FC Barcelona from 2000 to 2002.

The ground holds 17,393 spectators.

Head to head

Since becoming a first division club in 2004, Getafe have faced Barça 26 times and only won two of those encounters.

Getafe have only scored one goal in the last six meetings, although two of those games have been 0-0 draws.

Perhaps the most famous meeting of all between the sides was the Copa del Rey semi-final of 2007, with Leo Messi scoring his incredible replica of fellow countryman Diego Maradona’s goal against England in the 1986 World Cup as Barça cruised to a 5-2 win at the Camp Nou.

Inexplicably, however, Barça then lost the return leg 4-0 and crashed out of the competition.

Form guide

Getafe are currently seventh in the table, just one place below their highest ever finish of sixth, and have lost just one of their last nine matches.

They’ve only conceded four goals at home this season, a figure only bettered by Liverpool, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Paris St Germain in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.

Possession is not the Getafe way. Their average of 37.87% is the lowest in La Liga (it goes without saying that Barça have the highest). They also have the poorest disciplinary record in the championship.

Getafe are also still alive in the Copa del Rey and will be meeting Real Valladolid in the round of 16.

Players to watch

The only member of the squad with an FC Barcelona past is Sergi Guardiola, who spent a short spell with the B team in 2015.

Jorge Molina is the team’s top scorer this season, although he would usually have expected to have netted more than five goals by this stage of a campaign, while his strike partner Ángel Rodríguez finally ended an 11-game goal drought when he scored against Girona.

Japanese international Gaku Shibasaki is the only member of the team to have previously scored for Getafe against Barça.

Other Getafe players with ten or more senior international caps are Djené Dakonam (Togo), Vitorino Antunes (Portugal) and Nemanja Maksimović (Serbia).

Samuel Sáiz is the latest incorporation, arriving on loan from Leeds United in the winter transfer window.

The boss

José Bordalás had only ever played or managed in the lower leagues until he guided Alavés to promotion to La Liga in 2016, but was rewarded with being sacked. Instead, he’s enjoying his first top flight experience at the helm of Getafe.

Speaking on Saturday, he spoke of how Barcelona and the greatest player in the world are clearly a worry but “they know who Getafe are. We are a modest team that will try to stop them monopolising the ball. We know we are at home and will have our fans behind us, so…”