Barcelona climbs to second wi win over Getafe
Barcelona moved up to second in LaLiga after sweeping past Getafe 4-0 at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Raphinha opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a fine breakaway goal before Joao Felix, Frenkie de Jong and Fermin Lopez wrapped up a comfortable win, which puts Xavi’s side a point above Girona, which plays on Tuesday (AEDT).
Getafe created the first real opening when Mason Greenwood cut inside on to his left foot at the edge of the penalty area and sent a low drive towards goal, which was well saved by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Barca, which drew 1-1 away to Napoli in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie on Thursday (AEDT), took the lead in the 20th minute.
Raphinha ran on to a chipped pass behind the Getafe defence from right-back Jules Kounde and took the ball on into the area before dispatching a low shot into the bottom left corner.
The Brazilian then turned provider as his cross was almost turned in by Ilkay Gundogan, who just could not connect.
Raphinha missed a chance to double Barca’s lead five minutes before half-time when he was sent through on goal again, but this time crashed the ball over with Joao Felix in space for a square pass.
Getafe almost snatched an equaliser ahead of the break when defender Omar Alderete’s long-range strike saw Ter Stegen make an acrobatic catch.
The visitors made a bright start to the second half with Luis Milla seeing his curling shot pushed onto the post by Ter Stegen.
Barca, though, soon scored again in the 53rd minute.
Andreas Christensen was sent clear on the overlap down the right and his cross back through the penalty box was swept in by Felix.
Before Getafe could regroup, Barca had the ball in the net through Robert Lewandowski’s shot on the turn after being played in by Raphinha, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Barca did get a third in the 61st minute.
De Jong pushed forwards and exchanged passes with Raphinha before drilling the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.
With 15 minutes left, Getafe forward Borja Mayoral fired just wide before Barca added a fourth in stoppage-time when Lopez tapped into an empty net after Vitor Roque’s effort was saved.