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Barcelona suffered their first defeat of the 2020/21 LaLiga Santander season in a sad 1-0 defeat in Getafe on Saturday night at Madrid’s Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.
Jaime Mata’s penalty conversion in the second half made the difference on the scoreboard, but the topic of conversation will be the lack of chances generated by a Barça team that never found their rhythm during the 90 minutes.
There were some revealing inclusions at the start, with Ousmane Dembele making his first start alongside the young Pedri. Some history was also made with Sergino Dest as a left-back, making the former Ajax player the first player on the United States national team to start a game for the Catalan club. Meanwhile, upstairs, Ronald Koeman left with the duo of Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi.
The first goal opportunity was for Getafe, with Nemanja Maksimovic volleying to Neto’s right, followed by Dest placing Messi, whose shot hit the post.
Griezmann’s troubles in Barcelona continued in a dazzling fashion with a horrible ending after being played by Pedri. The Frenchman only had to beat the Getafe Soria goalkeeper, but instead sent his shot skyward.
Overall, though, it was a frustrating first 45 minutes for Koeman’s team, with performances scattered across the board, including a bug-prone Dembele who looked rusty after so many months of inactivity.
There was upset in Barcelona’s play and it took another grim turn when Frenkie de Jong was called from a penalty early in the second half when he collided with Djene in the Barcelona area. Mata stepped forward and calmly converted the penalty to give Getafe a 1-0 lead.
Koeman needed a spark, so Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho were called in to replace Dembélé and Pedri respectively, just after the hour. But the visitors’ pace in the pink jersey remained the same, allowing Allan Nyom and the Getafe defense to ward off any Barcelona attack.
Trincao and Martin Braithwaite were the next men selected by Koeman to try to get Barcelona going, but it was Getafe who had the sharpest edge and a superb pass from Marc Cucurella to Cucho Hernández ended with the Colombian firing a shot that Net tilted over crossbar and out.
Koeman’s latest change gave the underdog Riqui Puig a chance to make a difference in the final minutes when he replaced Sergi Roberto.
A Dest error should have seen Cucho drive the nail into Barcelona’s coffin, but he sprayed his shot well over the crossbar to give Koeman’s men a break and in injury time Messi had one last chance, just like Dest. But his cross center was headed by Djene to the crossbar.
No goals were expected for Barcelona, who will face a long list of questions before next week’s El Clásico.
Match sheet
1.- Getafe: Soria; Damian, Djene, Cabaco, Olivera; Nyom, Arambarri, Maksimovic (gizzard, min. 95), Cucurella; Cucho (Timor, min. 89), Mata (Enes Unal, min. 72)
0.- Barcelona: Net; Sergi Roberto (Riqui Puig, min. 87), Piqué, Lenglet, Dest; Busquets, De Jong (Braithwaite, min. 80); Dembélé (Ansu Fati, min. 62), Pedri (Coutinho, min. 62), Griezmann (Trincao, min. 80); Messi
Goals: 1-0, min. 56: Kill (p)
Referee: Cesar Soto Grado (La Rioja). Cards: Piqué (Min.23) for Barcelona, Mata (Min.27) for Getafe, Cabaco (Min.28) for Getafe, Sergi Roberto (Min.41) for Barcelona, Nyom (Min.73) for Getafe, Olivera (Min. 93) for Getafe
Red cards: none
Stadium: Coliseum Alfonso Perez
Attendance: 0
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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