After what has felt like an age ago, we are finally back in La Liga action, with tonight being our very first of the new year. Since the turn of 2025, we’ve played in the Spanish super cup and the Copa Del Rey, however tonight is when we can finally get back to the grind of the league games. And it really couldn’t be a worse team to face. As tonight live from 9pm local time, its Barçaagainst Getafe. One of the most physical and infuriating teams in world football it seems. Let’s jump straight into it.
A Quick Look at our opponents:
As I’ve just touched upon above, Getafe are not only an extremely physical team. But inspired by their coach Javier Bordelas, they are a side that enjoys defending, and most of all, fouling more than anything. Games against them are always tight scoring and above all, extremely tough to watch. And these gus don’t adapt for any team. They’ll play this negative way against anyone, just like they did in midweek against a 4th division side. Where famously, they scored in the 2nd minute, defended and gave up the ball for the rest of the game. Finishing the match with 9 players on the pitch and 16% possession. I can imagine it being a similar case tonight, where away from home, games are always long and difficult. But its yet another important game in the league, starting off the new year positively is so important for our aspirations in La Liga this season.
We’ve fallen behind and that’s all on us, so its up to us to get ourselves back on track. This evenings game against Getafe wont be easy, but nothing in this league is. We need to take inspiration from our recent form to push us through this game against a vey physically demanding opponent.
Predicted lineup:
When it comes to the lineup, i think we’ll definitely go strong. Possibly a couple changes from the team that thrashed Real Betis in midweek. But again, its important to rotate where possible especially with the quick turn around of games this month. For me, I think Lewandowski and Balde will return to the starting lineup, after being rested the other night.
In a game like this, it would be ideal to give Yamal a break and players like Cubarsi, Pedri. But not only can we not rotate too much, but we haven’t really got a lot of options on the bench. Gavi will most likely be rested with Casado coming back in. We’ll have a lot of the ball, and will have to break down a very low block, so we could possibly get away with resting Pedri and replacing him with Frenkie. But I don’t think that’s something that will happen. The only other question is who will start in goal? Peña had a solid performance vs Betis, but Scezney has also had an impressive start to the year too. It’s all in Flick’s hands.
My starting 11:
Peña
Kounde- Araujo- Cubarsi- Balde
Pedri- Casado
Yamal- Olmo- Raphinha
Lewandowski
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