Second defeat of the season

Barca went down to their second defeat of the season at Getafe tonight as Laudrup’s team took advantage of two of the very few chances in the game to win 2-0.

Rijkaard’s men lacked the aggression that a tough away trip like this was always going to demand and once again tasted defeat on the ground that saw their dramatic cup hammering last season. It seemed that few lessons had been learned from that defeat when Getafe went ahead after some poor defending in the first half and Barca were unable to muster any kind of reply to the home team’s determined pressing, even suffering a further goal late on after they had been reduced to 10 men following Zamrotta’s red card.


Slow start
The game got off to a slow start, though Getafe showed that they were willing and able to take the game to their visitors, even dominating at times and forcing Barca to defend deep.

Ulche gave notice of things to come with a good effort on 17 minutes, which Valdes did well to deal with and that seemed to draw some kind of response from Barca as Henry latched onto a precise Iniesta through ball on 23 minutes, only for the keeper to stop his effort with his legs, then soon after Milito also came close, heading a corner inches over the bar.



Getafe make most of their chances
Just as Barca appeared to be about to impose themselves on the game, Getafe scored, Manu taking advantage of slack marking to fire home a flick on from Mario on 27 minutes. It was a body blow to the visitors, who for the rest of the half never looked like turning the game around again.

Changes fail to turn the game around
Trijkaard shuffled the pack at half time, bringing on Zamrotta for Thuram and moving Puyol back into central defence and Barca took control of the game, as Getafe closed up shop, determined to defend their one-goal lead. Unfortunately tonight Barca seemed to lack the spark up front to convert their massive possession advantage into real goal scoring opportunities. Rijkaard again tried to inject some fresh legs, replacing Ronaldinho, who’d suffered a crunching tackle from De La Red, with Giovanni and then Bojan for Messi, but the youngsters were unable to make much impact.



Zambrotta sees red
Getafe slowed the game down with continual interruptions and fouls and Zambrotta lost his nerves with a reckless two footed tackle that saw him given a straight red.

Laudrup’s team took full advantage of the space left down Barca’s right flank and as the game drew to an end they finished off the game with a strike from Albin and sent Barca to their second league defeat this season.



Goals
1-0 Del Moral (min 27)
2-0 Albín (min 90)

Source : FCB