The reigning La Liga champions begun their league campaign with a 3-0 home win against Sporting Gijon, but they couldn’t manage to top the table, as Getafe slammed Racing Santander 4-1 away from home.
The Catalans will now have to think about playing their own game and getting a good result at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez this Saturday; whereas the Madrid side will be hoping to impose themselves on the Catalans, so as to keep their position at the top.
A favored Getafe side?
The Castellans might be confident of being in control this weekend against Barcelona, but the fear of losing their early momentum could also be in their hearts. Either way, their manager still has a lot of options in front of him, which could help him overcome his contenders in easier manner that some would imagine.
Having not been able to finish 4th in the league last season, Jose Miguel Gonzalez’ men don’t have to prepare for any upcoming fixture in Europe within the next few days.
Nevertheless, their opponents do; and thus, there is one thing the Getafe coach could use to make his team hold the game on Saturday: the exhaustion of the Catalans.
Of course, Getafe are aware of the strength of the Spanish Champions; therefore, they will need to think of another technique to survive at the at the Alfonso Perez stadium.
Certainly, as they remain cautious, they will hope to be aggressive enough to create and profit of their chances in the early stages of their game against Barcelona, for if ever they were to give away their ball possession to the enemy, they could see all 3 points fading out.
Barcelona’s challenging aspects towards the game
A 1-1 draw was how the encounter ended when the two sides met in the first part of the league about a year ago; nevertheless, the story could be totally different this weekend.
Pep Guardiola seems aware of the threat that Castellans are posing against his men, but the Spanish coach can be regarded as an “expert” when it comes to handling tactical oppositions.
After hard days of training for Argentina’s tough moments in the South American World Cup Qualifiers, Messi could miss his club’s second match against Getafe. Surely, this could annoy some of Barcelona’s fans, but then, Guardiola would certainly take into consideration any excuse from his player, as he wouldn’t want to risk his health, in a game which doesn’t possess the importance of Titans’ clashes.
This weekend’s game at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium will be the Catalans’ last worm-up fixture before the finals of the Champions League. An intelligent formation, good techniques, and a positive mentality will therefore be required, if ever Barcelona were to be fully prepared ahead of their match in Europe at the San Siro against Inter Milan.
Dubiously, Guardiola’s starting line-up on Sunday will not be as strong as some would expect it to be, as his exhausted players will need to be in form to confront the Italian Giants. As a result, it will be interesting to see how the manager will decide to make his substitution during the 90 minutes of his encounter against Getafe.
In any case, at the end of the day, what will matter the most for Barcelona supporters will be to get three more points in the league table, and a side fit enough to succeed in Italy comes on September 16th.
