“Sometimes it is good for you to suffer,” Antoine Griezmann said when at last this game came to an end, supporters at the Camp Nou departing relieved. Barcelona had suffered, that’s for sure; whether that is good for them is another matter. At the final whistle Quique Setién’s side had beaten Getafe 2-1, opening a 10-point lead on the team just below them and for the moment going joint top with Real Madrid, but the look on Lionel Messi’s face did not speak of total satisfaction. This had been hard, a game that had seemed set to escape Barcelona early on and might have done at the end.
Ultimately, though, Barcelona held on. Goals from Griezmann and Sergi Roberto were enough, despite a brilliant strike from the man who may soon join them, Angel Rodríguez getting one back to set up a tense final 30 minutes.
It is not by chance that this Getafe side are third, the season’s great revelation. Or that, from the Barcelona bench, the final instruction in the last minute was to hit the ball long to Arturo Vidal, seeking safety, getting them over the line.
Getafe might have got more here, their manager heading down the tunnel disappointed and defeated just before that one last play. José Bordalás may also have wondered about a possible second-half penalty and a first-half goal that was ruled out. Pressing Barcelona into their own area, denying them an easy way out, Getafe had begun with the intent that has characterised them. Jorge Molina was not the first to escape into space when he drew the corner from which Getafe thought they had the opener. Molina got to the delivery first, connecting with a header that Marc-André ter Stegen saved and there, running in to finish, was Allan Nyom. Behind him, though, Samuel Umtiti was lying on the turf, dazed. When the referee went to the screen, he saw why: Nyom had turned his shoulder into Umtiti’s face, knocking him down; the goal was ruled out.
A goal, though, could not be ruled out. It almost came when Jaime Mata evaded ter Stegen inside the area and Marc Cucurella struck fractionally wide. Soon afterwards, Gerard Piqué only just hooked away from Molina, worried whistles following from the stands. The ball had been Barcelona’s, perhaps, but the game was not. And then, suddenly, it was.
A wonderful, deft touch from Messi unlocked the area for Griezmann to cleverly steer past Soria after 33 minutes. It was the sixth successive Barcelona goal assisted by Messi but there would not be a seventh. Next Junior delivered for Sergi Roberto to score the second, the disbelieving look on Bordalás’s face telling a story.
Not that he gave up. Getafe sent on Kenedy and Ángel – the striker Barcelona may yet sign as an emergency replacement for Ousmane Dembélé – and if they were still doubting his value, he offered them a superb sidefooted volley. It was his 10th goal of the season, nine off the bench, and one he did not really celebrate. A calling card, perhaps; a call to action, certainly.
Revived, Getafe came at Barcelona again. There was belief now – and then disbelief when ter Stegen somehow slapped the ball away from Mata on the line. Nerves returned, a few more whistles too. Griezmann could have eased them when he blasted wildly over first and well wide next. Between those two chances Piqué pulled on Ángel’s shirt as the striker pressed, stole possession and headed into the area alone. There was a game on here, that was for sure. There just was not much time to play it.
With a minute left Messi bent a shot wide. It was his 33rd in a row now without a goal and no one else would get one either. Surveying the scene, aware of how they had suffered, Barcelona settled for that.
