Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona will face Getafe on Thursday evening with one change from the starting eleven that won the Copa del Rey last Saturday at the expense of Athletic Club. The number four of LaLiga will play in their own Camp Nou from 10 p.m. with a 3-5-2 line-up against the number fifteen, who won 1-0 against Barcelona on October 17 last year and with this Koeman his first defeat after four league matches. worried. Barcelona is in full control of the doubles with eight games to go.
Koeman opts for one change: Sergi Roberto takes the place of Sergiño Dest. The three-man defense of Barcelona is formed by Óscar Mingueza, Gerard Piqué and Clément Lenglet, with Marc-André ter Stegen on target. Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Pedri form the midfield, while Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba can be found on the flanks. The latter was good for no less than seven assists in his last six official matches: three for Spain (in two international matches) and four for Barcelona (in four club matches). In the forefront there is again room for Antoine Griezmann next to Lionel Messi, who, like De Jong, is still one yellow card away from a suspension.
What is the remaining program of Atlético, Barça, Real and Sevilla?
The differences between Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona and Seville are minimal. It seems clear which clubs will finish in the top four and thus enter the Champions League, but in what order? And who are the remaining opponents? You can read it in this article.
Ousmane Dembélé is missing from the match selection due to an injury to the pubic bone. The attacker has been struggling with complaints for a long time and the medical staff does not want to take any risks. Dembélé only took part in the final minutes in the cup final as a replacement for Griezmann, who was preferred over his fellow countryman due to the compact game of Athletic. The absence of the also injured Martin Braithwaite means that Trincao has more prospect of playing time as a substitute. The attacker came to just 118 minutes in total in almost two months, but made a good impression in the international period with Portugal Under-21 by scoring twice.
In addition to Dembélé and Braithwaite, Koeman also does not have access to the injured Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho and Neto. Wing forward Konrad de la Fuente of Barcelona B has been added to the match selection to make up for the loss of Dembélé and Braithwaite. Compared to last Saturday’s cup final, Riqui Puig, Miralem Pjanic, Junior Firpo and Matheus are making their comeback in the match selection. The foursome watched the final battle against Athletic Club (0-4) from the stands.
Statistics in favor of Barcelona
Barcelona may have lost 1-0 in and against Getafe earlier this season, but the Catalans have never lost two league matches against the Madrid in one season. Getafe has never even won an away match against Barcelona in competition: four draws and 11 defeats in 15 visits to the Camp Nou. Getafe does not wait longer for a win in LaLiga against any other club.
Barcelona has also been unbeaten for twelve consecutive home matches in LaLiga (nine wins and three draws) since the 1-3 defeat against arch-rival Real Madrid in October last year. And that while Getafe has not won one of the last six away games in the competition (one draw and five defeats) and in four of these six duels did not even score a goal.
Getafe coach José Bordalás won just one of his nine official games against Barcelona as head coach (two draws and six defeats) earlier this season at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. Finally, no one has scored more goals in LaLiga this football season than Barcelona (69) and less than Getafe (22, the same as Eibar). Salient: Messi (23) was more accurate in LaLiga this season than all players of Getafe combined (22).
Line-up Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Piqué, Lenglet; Sergi Roberto, De Jong, Busquets, Pedri, Jordi Alba; Messi and Griezmann
Getafe setup: