FC Barcelona achieved its seventh consecutive victory in as many league games on Wednesday, regaining a four-point cushion at the top of the Spanish championship after beating Getafe 1-0.
Poland’s Robert Lewandowski scored the only goal of the match in the first half (19) despite his teammates Raphinha and Lamine Yamal trying to score several times at the ‘azulona’ goal.
Although FC Barcelona were the clear dominators of the match in both halves, the lack of decisiveness that the team is experiencing despite the victory against Getafe (1-0) was evident today, as out of 15 shots taken only 4 were able to go towards goal.
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Although in the final minutes of the match, those led by coach Hansi Flick suffered, as Getafe pressed and went out looking for the goal, a goal that did not come, but not thanks to the defensive efforts of the Catalans but more than anything due to a clear goal opportunity that Borja Mayoral missed that could have represented parity in the match in the 95th minute of the duel.
With this result and the three important points, FC Barcelona remains at the top of the La Liga table with 21 points and is unbeaten in all seven of their games. Closely followed by their eternal rival, Real Madrid, who have 17 points after 5 wins and 2 draws.
Real Madrid had closed the gap to within just one point of Barca in the standings after their 3-2 win over Deportivo Alaves on Tuesday, but the Blaugrana responded well to the pressure and increased their lead again.
Lewandowski adds and continues
In Barca’s first match since the serious injury of German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, 25-year-old youth player Inaki Pena defended the goal as a starter and took center stage with a great save in the early stages from a header by Carles Perez (8).
His counterpart at Getafe was not so lucky. David Soria jumped to try and catch a cross from Jules Kounde, but he was unable to get hold of the ball, which slipped into the heart of the area. That’s when ‘Lewy’ appeared to score his seventh goal of the season and remain the leading scorer in Spain.
“For me, he is the best number 9 of the last ten years. His work is in front of the goal, in the area and he is doing a phenomenal job. Obviously, we surround him with players who give him that final pass (…) the goal was great,” said coach Hansi Flick in a press conference about the Polish goalscorer.
Not satisfied with the poor result, his players sought the second goal, with a great shot from Yamal to the top corner saved thanks to a great stretch from Soria (58), or with a deflected header from Raphinha in the final stretch (82).
“It can happen sometimes… we can not always win with a big goal difference. The important thing is that we created chances again and that we got the three points because Getafe is always a difficult team to manage,” Jules Kounde told Movistar+.
“We played a good game, we controlled the game and we had chances to score more, even if we couldn’t convert them today,” added the French international.
In the other match played on Wednesday, Girona (12th, 8 points) and Rayo Vallecano (10th, 9 points) drew 0-0. The remaining matches of the seventh round will be played on Thursday, with a highlight (19:00 GMT) between Celta de Vigo (9th, 9 points) and Atletico de Madrid (4th, 12 points).
The demanding schedule gives no respite, and Barca will visit Osasuna (7th) on Saturday, in the eighth round of the League, while Getafe will host Deportivo Alaves (8th).
