Barcelona ‘slipped’ from the start in the 2023/24 Spanish Football League, drawing at Getafe on Sunday, a setback that started the ‘draw’ with Rafinha sent off before half-time.
The Brazilian winger, formerly of Sporting, received a yellow card in the 38th minute for protesting, but was sent off with a direct red card in the 42nd minute for elbowing an opponent, reducing the Catalans to 10 units. .
However, sending off Rafinha does not explain the defeat, as the situation of numerical inferiority lasted 15 minutes, because Getafe striker Jaime Mata would also be sent off at the age of 57 for accumulating yellow cards, leaving everything as it was.
The Catalan team applied choke pressure in the last quarter of an hour, but showed a lot of haste and lack of insight against Getafe, who never dismantled their defensive system, united and with the full dedication of their players, among them the Portuguese. central Domingo Duarte.
In the final part of the match, the referee gave another 16 minutes due to numerous stoppages of the game, but what was striking was the lack of nerve that Barcelona dealt with the final pressure, perhaps the result of the youth of many of its players.
Javi Hernandez, already ejected from the bench of the Spanish champions, launched three of them in the last quarter of an hour, a new formation “applause” to Lamin Yamal, Gavi and Ansu Fati, but the truth is that the team failed to create an imbalance in the last third of the field.
In the last minute to go, center Ronald Araujo was fouled from a penalty, but the ball in the hand of Gavi, who won the bid, had previously made it impossible for Barça to have a sovereign situation to win. correspond.
In the other two games on Sunday, Osasuna traveled to Vigo to beat Celta 2-1 with goals from Rubén Garcia and Moi Gómez in the 24th and 74th minutes respectively, in a match in which the Portuguese player scored national team of Gonzalo Paciencia. do not reach, leave the bench of the Galicians, and “Betis” had to wait for stoppage time to ensure a victory over Villarreal with a score of 2:1.
The Sevillian team took the lead through Ayoza Pérez in the 20th minute, while the hosts equalized in the 61st thanks to center Jorge Cuente. However, in the 90+5th minute, Brazilian Willian José secured the victory for Beticos, who had Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Silva in the starting lineup.