Barcelona vs Getafe Prediction - A Battle For Points At Camp Nou

Next Saturday, Barcelona will take on a relegation threatened Getafe at Camp Nou for round 36 of Liga BBVA on a match of paramount importance both for Los Blaugranas and for the Azulones, but for different reasons, tough.

Barcelona’s team and their supporters had a complicated week due to Tito Vilanova's passing but they somehow managed to recover from a 2-0 at El Madrigal to grab a late 3-2 win thanks to another goal from the Argentinean football genius, Lionel Messi.

The Catalan team is far from being at their best and after the Copa del Rey defeat against Real Madrid, they seem to be even more inconsistent and fragilized. Notwithstanding, they keep battling for La Liga’s title, four points behind Atlético Madrid with just three matches until the end of the season.

Next Saturday, Barcelona will need to be fully focused for their match against a brave Getafe that, thanks to last weekend’s win, managed to escape from the relegation places of the table.

For next weekend’s clash against Getafe, Tata Martino will not be able to count on Victor Valdes, that will miss the rest of the season due to a severe knee injury, and he is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contributions of Neymar, Piqué, Puyol and Alba, who are still recovering from their respective injuries.

As for the Azulones, the remaining matches of the season will certainly be frantic. After last weekend win against Málaga, Getafe renewed their hopes of playing at the Spanish football top tier next season, although they cannot afford anymore slip-ups until the end of the season. Cosmin Contra has managed to inject into the team some of his personal enthusiasm and bravery and Getafe returned to victories after only grabbing one point from the last three matches. Nevertheless, the Romanian manager will need to prepare something special to defeat Barcelona at their headquarters next Saturday.

For the clash at Camp Nou, Contra will not be able to count on his fellow countryman Ciprian Marica, who was sent off during the team’s last match against Málaga, while Miguel Angel Moya and Diego Castro should also miss the match due to injury.

When both sides measured forces at Coliseum Alfonso Pérez in Madrid last December, Barcelona crushed the home side 5-2, even though Getafe was able of being on the lead 2-0 for the first thirty minutes of the match. Next weekend at Camp Nou and despite their less positive moment, Barcelona are clearly favourites, although it will be interesting to see how Getafe will try to counter that blatant favouritism of the Blaugranas.

Barcelona

Stats: W-27 L-5 D-3

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Getafe

Stats: W-9 L-17 D-8

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Possible Line-ups

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Pinto - Montoya - Bartra - Mascherano - Adriano - Busquets - Xavi - Iniesta - Pedro - Sánchez - Messi.

Getafe (4-4-2) - Codina - Valera - L. López - Rafa - Escudero - Lacen - Sarabia - P. León - J. Rodríguez - Gavilán - Colunga

Prediction: Barcelona 2 Getafe 1