And with that, good night. Hope you’ve enjoyed it, and thanks for reading.
Here’s a little round-up of the games earlier today, in Spain and around Europe.
And so, Barcelona go five points clear at the top of the table, ten ahead of Real Madrid who are sloshing around down there in fifth.
FT in Getafe. Barça win 2-1, good weekend for them. Only top seven team, with Alaves to win.
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) January 6, 2019
Sevilla and Atletico draw.
Real Madrid beaten at home by la Real.
Barcelona’s lead at top is now 5 over Atletico, 7 over Sevilla, 9 over Alaves and 10 over Madrid.
Really good game, that. Getafe’s attacking threat faded towards the last 20-odd minutes, but they were at the very worst competitive against a Barca team with Messi as otherworldly as ever.
Full-time: Getafe 1-2 Barcelona
Peeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins +3: Messi booms a massive ball from left to right, finding Suarez at the back post, but despite having a couple of options at the edge of and in the area, he shoots straight into the shins of the first man.
90 mins +1: More brilliance from Messi, exchanging passes with Alena down the right and he cuts into the middle, is fouled but keeps his feet and passes to Suarez, but he runs straight into a defender as he tries to nutmeg him.
90 mins: Three minutes of added time....
88 mins: And the final sub of the game: Alena is on for Barca, with Artur shuffling off.
86 mins: Messi is dragged to the floor about 25 yards from goal, just to the right of centre. He lines up the free-kick himself, but sticks it high and wide.
85 mins: Coutinho’s first task is to swing over a corner from the left, which he does right onto Lenglet’s head, but he sticks the effort wide.
84 mins: Changes for both teams: Coutinho comes on in place of Dembele, while for Getafe Robert Ibanez replaces Portillo.
83 mins: Getafe give Messi three yards of space on the edge of the box, which is an interesting defensive approach. Soria does well to push the shot out, Dembele is first to it and squares across the six-yard box where Suarez is waiting to tap home, but the excellent Djene gets there first and clears.
81 mins: Mata drags Rakitic to the ground. There’s been just enough unpleasantness and needle to this game.
79 mins: From a corner, Saiz tries to batter a first-time volley at goal and...well, let’s just say he didn’t connect as he’d like.
77 mins: Yellow card for Maksimovic for a trip on Suarez, who limps away as if there were axes on his opponent’s boots.
75 mins: Big chances for Messi: Dembele runs through from deep and waits, waits, waits then smartly slips the pass through to Messi. He never really looks like the ball is under control, but he digs it out enough to shoot, and Soria saves.
74 mins: Another sub for Getafe, and FAO Leeds fans: Samu Saiz is on for Angel Rodriguez.
72 mins: Hopefully this is coming across, but this is an absolutely belting game. Djene smartly levers Suarez out of the way but is then penalised for a foul on Artur.
70 mins: Sub for Barcelona, and here’s Busquets, on for Vidal.
69 mins: Cabrera goes into the book and is probably lucky not to get harsher punishment for absolutely ploughing through Suarez. Late, aggressive, clumsy, out of control. Oof.
68 mins: That Molina miss was a bit like the moment that you first approach someone you find attractive and are suddenly unable to speak. Looking at the replay, rather than his tongue he lost control of his feet just after he took it round the keeper.
67 mins: Oh lord, what a miss! Molina goes through on goal, he gently shimmies around Ter Stegen, but just as he’s about to put the ball into the empty net, he suddenly appears to become aware of the size of the moment, and he skews it wide. Oh lord, what a miss!
66 mins: Portillo plays a nice ball down the right side of the area to Molina, but his cross is weak and towards the near post, and Ter Stegen claims.
65 mins: Booking for Vidal, for chopping Armabarri to the floor in midfield.
64 mins: Happens to literally the best of them.
Mata just nutnegged Messi
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) January 6, 2019
63 mins: Messi goes for the opposite corner, but puts it over the bar. He chastises himself at length.
61 mins: A Barca counter at terrifying speed, led by Dembele. He flicks it to Messi, who in turn instantly helps it on to Suarez, but Soria races off his line to smother it. However, Messi had been taken out after the ball had gone, and Barca have a free-kick on the edge of the D, to the left of centre...
59 mins: Getafe should be level again! A brilliant header from a corner by Cabrera, running onto it at pace like a latter-day Les Ferdinand, is tipped over the bar. That corner came when Alba wasn’t a million miles away from scoring an own-goal, flicking a back-header from a free-kick just wide.
57 mins: Change for Getafe, and it’s an attacking one: Folquier, who’s been on the right of midfield, is withdrawn in favour of striker Jorge Molina.
56 mins: Getafe counter at some pace down the right but Mata’s skimmed, head-height cross is cleared before it can reach Rodriguez.
54 mins: Dembele does well after a testing pass by Alba and some close attention from Djene to clip a cross over from the left of the area. That cross is only half-headed clear, and falls to Messi who lashes it towards goal with his right foot, but it’s straight at Soria. His palms are stung, but you’d think if that was on Messi’s left, the keeper would’ve stood no chance.
52 mins: Suarez (Damian) chucks a long ball forward which Ter Stegen does the hoary old keeper thing of barreling out and punching clear, taking out everything in his path, including Mata. But it was all for nought in the end, because the flag had gone up, Mata being offside.
49 mins: Oh my days, Getafe should be level. Lenglet overhits a backpass to Ter Stegen, who rushes into his clearance and puts it high in the air. Folquier gets there first and sends it first-time to Rodriguez, who is through on goal and shoots across the face...and it clips the outside of the post with Ter Stegen beaten.
47 mins: Classic Suarez (Luis), as he runs in front of Suarez (Damian), stops and shoves himself backwards, and thus into his opponent/namesake, then throws himself to the floor to win a free-kick. The referee is suitably hoodwinked, and gives the Barca man a free-kick.
46 mins: We’re away again for the second half. No changes for either side as yet.
28 - @FCBarcelona strikers Lionel Messi (16) and Luis Suárez (12) have scored 28 @LaLigaEN goals this season, more than 16 teams in the competition. Duet. pic.twitter.com/mvH2JKalZa
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 6, 2019
Good game, this. Barcelona could well be about three or four ahead but at the same time Getafe might feel they deserve to be level. They’ve had a goal disallowed touch and go fashion, plus have attacked to a sensible degree, but just haven’t been able to keep out some absolute brilliance from Barcelona’s usual suspects.
Half-time: Getafe 1-2 Barcelona
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Here’s that Suarez goal. Clean.
| GOAL! |
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) January 6, 2019
Take a bow, Luis Suarez 👏
His fine finish has put Barcelona 2-0 up against Getafe! #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/Bo6qEDsREx
43 mins: Barcelona aren’t happy after Dembele claimed he was fouled when driving towards the box, but Antunes carries on and crosses from deep on the left to the back post, where Rodriguez volleys it back across goal where Jaime Mata arrives to scuff into the empty net.
GOAL! Getafe 1-2 Barcelona (Mata 43)
Now then.
Updated
41 mins: Post! Getafe nearly get right back into the game straight away. Rodriguez crosses from the left, Arambarri makes a Lampardian run late into the box and hits it first time on the volley aiming for the right corner of the net, but it takes a massive deflection and hits the left upright. Lucky, and unlucky.
39 mins: From that free-kick conceded by Antunes, Messi sticks it into the mixer, from which it is headed to the edge of the box by Djene. There Suarez is waiting, and he positions his body superbly and volleys perfectly into the near corner. That could have gone anywhere, but thanks to Suarez’s brilliance it’s a goal.
GOAL! Getafe 0-2 Barcelona (Suarez 39)
WOOF! What a strike!
Updated
38 mins: Antunes barrels right into Sergi Roberto as if he’s trying to break down a door with his shoulder, and is lucky not to be booked. Roberto limps away but will be OK to continue.
36 mins: Messi tries to thread a pass through to Suarez (Luis), but it’s intercepted by Suarez (Damian). Suarez (Luis) then barges Suarez (Damian) over from behind, and concedes a free-kick.
34 mins: Getafe with a rare sortie up field, but Mata tosses it away by lashing a poor cross much too close to Ter Stegen who plucks it from the air.
32 mins: Rakitic is playing in the Busquets role tonight, and he’s doing it pretty well. He whips the ball away from Rodriguez as he tries to set something up by bringing the ball down on his chest.
29 mins: And another huge chance. Suarez makes space with one of those beautifully simple little shifts of his body, shifts the ball from left to right foot and shoots just a little bit wide. He’s apoplectic that the referee doesn’t spot the slight deflection that perhaps carried the ball past the post.
26 mins: Lordy, Barca should be two up. The corner from that last move isn’t properly cleared, it falls for Messi who zips into the box and stabs it to Artur, who cuts back to Pique, unmarked, about seven yards out, but he strikes his shot too close to Soria who makes a good save.
25 mins: There’s Alba again, set loose behind the Getafe defence as he speeds towards the byline, but his cut-back cross is put behind.
23 mins: Barca nearly go two ahead as Suarez shoots from a tight angle, which Soria does well to stand up to and block, with Alba probably in a better position but ignored.
20 mins: The ball loops into the area, looking like it will land between two Getafe defenders and goalkeeper Soria, but who should speed in there like Roadrunner, nip the ball away and make the three crash into each other like Acme villains? Obviously Messi, whose initial effort is blocked before his collision by Soria, it breaks to the thinnest of angles and Messi strokes it into the net while not even looking up. Solid player, this lad.
GOAL! Getafe 0-1 Barcelona (Messi 20)
He continues to be absolutely extraordinary.
Updated
17 mins: Good lord. Vidal gets himself into a little trouble in the Barca right-back position, but instead of sticking the ball out or looking for a short pass, he hoofs it back towards his own goal. Ter Stegen deals with it pretty well, controlling on his chest and volleying away under significant pressure from Rodriguez who fouls him, but that was all for nought as the referee had blown up for a foul on Vidal to start with.
15 mins: A couple of bookings now, as Folquier and Alba clash down the left side of the Barca penalty area. Not entirely sure why both men were booked, but it was a free-kick to Getafe in the end.
12 mins: Artur goes into the book after a stray arm into the face of Rodriguez. Interesting one: either that was accidental, in which case it shouldn’t have been a foul, or it was a full elbow to the face, in which case it could well have been a red card.
10 mins: Just before that disallowed goal Getafe should probably have been given a penalty, after Vidal shoved an arm into the back of Folquier as they both went up for a header. Spicy couple of minutes for the ref.
9 mins: GOA...no! No goal! A cross loops over from the Getafe left and Mata sidefoots a nice volley home. But the referee blows his whistle, having perceived a shove by Rodriguez on Lenglet. But that looked like the Barca defender had more tripped over his own feet than was sent over by nefarious means. Soft, at best.
6 mins: Quick chance for Getafe - well, half-chance really, as Rodriguez finds a yard of space in the box and snatches a half-volley over the bar.
5 mins: Dembele turns on those rockets on his heels and speeds into the box, where he arrives in Djene’s general orbit and goes down. No penalty given, and the forward is encouraged to get to his feet.
3 mins: Not much of note in the early minutes. Jordi Alba aimed a long pass towards Suarez, but it was headed clear. Getafe have barely touched the ball.
1 min: And we’re off. A few players are wearing red boots with their salmon kits and it’s clashing. Tut tut.
The teams are out, Barcelona in their...well, I’m going to call it ‘salmon’ away kit.
This is a good read from Ed Aarons, whose byline picture is now out of date because he’s grown a thick, lovely beard.
Pictures! Gertcha pictures! A dozen of them, in ‘The Dozen’, from the weekend of football just gone.
And now Madrid are 2-0 down! What japes! So with a victory in this one Barca will be ten points ahead of their old foes, them rapidly fading into insignificance.
Meanwhile...are you sure about this Andres?
👑👑👑💫💫💫 pic.twitter.com/RhCXAj1AqB
— Andrés Iniesta (@andresiniesta8) January 6, 2019
No Busquets for Barcelona and, for those English-based transfer-heads out there, no Denis Suarez in the squad either. Arsenal, for reasons not entirely clear, are apparently looking to spend some of their limited transfer budget on another midfielder.
Team news
Getafe
Soria; Damian, Djene, Cabrera, Antunes; Folquier, Arambarri, Maksimovic, Mata; Angel, Portillo. Subs: Chichizola, Bruno, Saiz, Flamini, Cristoforo, Ibanez, Molina.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Vidal, Arthur, Rakitic; Suarez, Messi, Dembele. Subs: Cillessen, Murillo, Coutinho, Malcom, Semedo, Busquets, Alena.
Updated
And to add to Barca’s hilarity, Real Madrid are currently losing to Real Sociedad, with 26 minutes remaining.
Preamble
Welcome back to Barcelona. The Spanish league has bought you a gift: it’s second-place Atletico Madrid dropping points! Just what you always wanted? Diego Simeone’s side drew 1-1 against Sevilla earlier on, meaning should Barca win this one they will go a breezy five points clear at the top of the table, and with a pretty friendly set of fixtures coming up, you’d rather expect them to extend that lead too.
And yet Ernesto Valverde still might not be there next season. “I have a contract with the club which was two years plus an option and at the end of the season we have to decide whether I continue or not,” he said this week. “We will postpone that decision for further down the line, depending on how the season goes.” Maybe he’s got somewhere better to be.
Still, Getafe are - as they say - no chumps. They’re flirting with the fringes of the European places and have only lost once in the last 11 games, have a solid, settled team and have only conceded four goals at home all season.
So this might be a live one. Stick around, let’s enjoy ourselves of a Sunday evening.
Kick-off: 19.45 GMT
