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Barcelona crashed into the tactical trap of José Bordalás and lost 1-0 against Getafe, who triumphed with the approach of a coach who managed to annul the Barça team with an almost impregnable defensive network crowned with Jaime Mata’s penalty goal.
As almost always, Getafe was presented as an uncomfortable team that mercilessly hammering its rivals in every action. And more after losing 3-0 against Real Sociedad last day, with his pride hurt by receiving so many goals when he usually barely concedes.
Barcelona woke up to the worst possible Getafe during the first half hour, in which he could not breathe due to the suffocating pressure of José Bordalás’ ten warriors.
From the two at the top, the Colombian Juan Camilo “Cucho” Hernández and Jaime Mata, to the four at the bottom, all of them applied themselves thoroughly to destabilize Koeman’s idea.
The Dutch coach turned his head on Ferencvaros and surprised with the inclusion of Frenchman Ousmané Dembélé and Pedri. He also released Sergiño Dest with a changed leg on the left side due to the loss of Jordi Alba and, at least during the initial stretch of the crash, it seemed that little worked in a group at the mercy of the Azulón push.
In those thirty minutes, Barcelona could hardly hold the ball. Even less, find holes to come out to the counterattack. There was always some Getafe player harassing his rivals, without time to think and give way to the verticality that Koeman longs for.
With the exception of a shot to the stick of Messi, the Barcelona box presented no version of the best part of his curriculum. And, that occasion, it was a warning of what Pedri was going to do when Getafe lowered the bar. He demonstrated an impressive spatial vision that would later become a constant rather than an exception.
While Barcelona managed to take control, Getafe managed, thanks to the leaks and the movements of the “Cucho”, to generate danger with rapid robberies and direct punctures. In one of these, the Colombian gave a good pass to Nemanja Maksimovic that ended up in the body of Neto after a poisoned shot from the Serbian from inside the area. It was the best opportunity for the Bordalás men, who, tired, gave up the domain to Barcelona in the last quarter of an hour of the opening act.
Pedri reappeared there to show that his impact on Messi hitting the post was not an isolated act. The midfielder took the controls and began to display himself with self-confidence and the simplicity of a mature player.
His was the pass to the hole that Antoine Griezmann wasted at the exact half hour. The Frenchman made a move that reminded Griezmann of the best times, but inexplicably sent the ball into the stands with a shoe when he was in front of the goal defended by David Soria.
Jaime Mata answered with a shot that went off in a mirage of what Getafe had been in the first bars of the duel.
Barcelona was not daunted again for the rest of the first half and unsuccessfully circled the Soria area until halftime. In the resumption the script returned to the one at the beginning of the clash, with Getafe again with air and strength to annoy Barcelona at the exit of the ball.
He succeeded and, unlike in the first half hour, he got his prize thanks to a clear penalty from Frenkie De Jong on Djené Dakonam that Jaime Mata did not miss. With the 1-0, Koeman moved the bench and took the two sacrificed to the field at the beginning: Ansu Fati and Coutinho came out for Dembélé and Pedri, who said goodbye after signing an exceptional first act.
Ahead, both had the difficult mission of opening one of the best defenses in the championship that grows when it plays with an advantage on the scoreboard. In that state, Getafe is an expert in the art of mischief, of managing the times as they please and making the clock always tick in their favor.
Practically until the 70th minute, Barcelona did not scare Soria again, who did not have to strain to see how Ansu Fati’s shot from outside the area went away from his goal. It was the only real attempt since Getafe’s goal and until the end because Bordalás’s men made the field very narrow and small.
The minutes passed and Barcelona, unhinged, could not cross the wall of Getafe, who could even do the second and third with two very clear occasions from “Cucho”. The post and an erratic shot against Neto that ended above the goal, prevented it.
In the end, Bordalás took the moral victory despite Djené’s last shot off the post at his own goal in added time. His tactics triumphed and the Alicante coach for the first time was able to celebrate adding three points against a great: he had never beaten Real Madrid, Atlético or Barcelona. At last he did it, true to form, hammering the mine like a hammer to add a victory for insistence.
