Getafe vs Barcelona Match Preview
Saturday night’s Getafe match will provide Barcelona with the first of their congested and exciting upcoming agenda.

Barcelona are facing a tough end to the year with a congested agenda. Getafe is next.
Barcelona will have to affront Rayo Vallecano on the 29th before playing Levante and Bate Borisov on December 3 and December 6 respectively. They will make a fascinating trip to Madrid for El Clasico on December 10 and then fly to Japan for their opening fixture of the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup which has been scheduled for the 15th.
The Catalans don’t want to run out of ammunition during the next few weeks, so are they going to treat each and every game?
“In this championship, you have to work really hard right until the end... everything matters in this competition. All the teams have their virtues, and if we aren't at our best we can drop points,” Pep Guardioa intelligibly stated at a press conference on Friday.
“Christmas is coming and we have to try to keep up with Real Madrid. Barcelona must keep up the same form, intense football and number of chances created as last month.”
Just before kicking off against Getafe, the Catalans could indeed be 6 points behind current league leaders Real Madrid. They will need to surmount fatigue after going through 90 minutes of intense football away to AC Milan in midweek.
Iniesta, who is not fit yet, won’t play against Getafe. Dani Alves, however, is part of Guardiola’s 20-man squad. The roster, which includes Isaac Cuenca, goes as follows:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Fàbregas, Puyol, Xavi, Villa, Alexis, Messi, Thiago, Mascherano, Keita, Sergio, Pedro, Maxwell, Adriano, Abidal, Fontàs and Isaac Cuenca
Getafe vs Barcelona Match Report
It was a bad night for Barcelona, who failed to grab a victory tonight at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. A 1-0 defeat now places them six points behind rivals Real Madrid.
Real Madrid thrashed Atletico Madrid 4-1 in the derby at the Bernabeu earlier on the night; thus it was Barcelona’s task to keep the pressure on their arch-rivals through a win against Getafe. That didn’t happen.
It all began as an open match, although Getafe made solid efforts to deny the Catalans comfort and power. Half-time was a moment of suspense, with both teams having chances to open the scoring in the second period.
David Villa was the first to explode, heading the ball just over the bar from a set-piece from Xavi on 48 minutes. Lionel Messi and Dani Alves both went forward afterward, but never were they able to change the indication on the scoreboard.
The surprise then came after the hour mark, when Juan Valera headed home from a corner to put the hosts in front. At this moment, Barca knew they had to go all out attack.
There were signs that Messi was going to net an equalizer later on, but neither his attempts, nor the entry of Pedro and Cuenca were good enough to satisfy the anxious Blaugrana.
Xavi had his opportunity in a free-kick that turned out to be unimpressive, while Miku almost doubled Getafe’s lead on 86 minutes, but his shot after a great run went just wide.
In stoppage time, a relentless Messi hit the left-hand post; it was Los Cules’ last chance… In the end, Getafe celebrated what was truly a vital victory, at the expense of their visitors.
Barcelona still maintain the second place though with 28 points, while Real Madrid stay leaders with 34 points.