La Liga: Barcelona vs. Getafe

Posted on | May 22, 2007 | No Comments

Just to prove this is one of the strangest championships in recent history, Barcelona are now back on a high after thumping Athletico de Madrid six goals to nil away from home. Almost everyone was talking of a possible Athletico win, but the result was totally unexpected. They are now level with Real Madrid as joint leaders on sixty nine points, although Real has a better goal average. The truth is that Barcelona really needed this win to put them in a better frame of mind in order to confront the rest of the games until the end of the season and continue hoping for their third league title in consecutive years. Coach Frank Rijkaard has done a good job in raising the morale of his squad, who were very disappointed by drawing at home to Betis in the last minute.
Getafe were also in goal scoring mode at the weekend. Curiously, they visited Barcelona to take on the other Catalan team -Espanyol- and came home with a fantastic five one away win. Espanyol were still a bit punch drunk from the UEFA cup final defeat to Sevilla, and didn’t really have the energy to put up a fight. Now Getafe are just two points from the UEFA cup place that Athletico de Madrid occupies, and don’t want to let this opportunity slip, even though they will qualify automatically if Sevilla play in the Champions league. The last time Getafe played at the Camp Nou stadium was in the King’s cup semi final first leg and they took a five – two thrashing home with them, and although they subsequently went through to the final by winning four goals to nil in the second leg, this match will be up hill all the way for Getafe. Coach Bernard Schuster knows Barcelona only too well from his playing days with the Catalan club, and wants to make a good impression here as Rijkaard’s job could be up for grabs come the new season.
I’m going for a home win here, mainly because when Barca play in their stadium very few teams are capable of getting anything out of it. They also need to keep up with Real Madrid and know that if they draw or lose against Deportivo, they will be leaders again.
Prediction: Home win (2-0)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Getafe vs. Barcelona
2. La Liga: Getafe vs. Athletico de Madrid
3. Newsflash: King’s cup semi final – second leg: Getafe 4 Barcelona 0!
4. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Getafe
5. La Liga: Athletico de Madrid vs. Barcelona

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