Barcelona 5-2 Getafe: Messi's men stay in the title fight

Barcelona 5-2 Getafe: Messi's men stay in the title fight

The Argentine hit two goals as Barca ran out big winners against Getafe at Camp Nou

Barcelona climbed back above Sevilla into third place with this emphatic win against Getafe. Emphatic on paper at least, in practice the game became closer than Ronald Koeman would have liked.

The first half was at times a drunken affair, but one in which Barcelona emerged on top.

Leo Messi showed his intentions with an early effort that crashed against the woodwork, before he broke the deadlock in the eighth minute.

The Argentine star dispatched clinically after being sent in on David Soria’s goal by Sergio Busquets’s slide rule ball.

Getafe levelled when the ball ricocheted off Clement Lenglet and past Ter Stegen, before another own goal restored Barcelona’s advantage. Sofian Chakla’s passback rolled past Soria and into his own net, a comic moment.

Koeman made changes at the break, bringing on Ilaix Moriba and Ronald Araujo, but the latter made a bad mistake to concede a penalty. He stood on Enes Unal’s ankle and the forward got up and stuck the spot kick away to make it tight again.

Araujo, however, had no intention of letting his mistake define the game. After a Koeman rant at Mingueza ended up with Umtiti replacing the youngster, the other Ronald made a decisive move.

Messi whipped in a flat corner and Araujo brilliantly headed home at the near post. That was that, and the otherwise quiet Antoine Griezmann added the fifth from the penalty spot after he was fouled. Five goals, and five points behind league leaders Atletico, with a game in hand. Seven left to go for Barca.

LATEST EPISODE of SIEMPRE POSITIVO, the best FC Barcelona podcast in English

Topics with the letter