Messi stars as Barca ease past Getafe despite late scare

Barcelona needed to win to keep the pressure on Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race and Ronald Koeman's men did not disappoint in what was a one sided contest.

They came out sharp from the off and Lionel Messi could have scored after three minutes after Griezmann passed him the ball, but his strike rattled off the crossbar. Five minutes later, he was not to be denied though. Sergio Busquets sent a lovely ball forward for the Argentine, he controlled and then beat goalkeeper David Soria to give Barca the lead. 

The home side seemed in control, but their lead was short lived as Clement Lenglet turned Angel's wayward shot from Cucurella's cross into his own net with his right arm. 

Barca continued to dominate despite the setback though. Lionel Messi failed to hit the target after 16 minutes after Jordi Alba laid the ball off to him and Getafe were always under pressure. Barca took the lead after 27 minutes, but in very unusual fashion. 

There seemed to be no danger for the visitors, but Sofiane Chakla decided to pass the ball back to the goalie, Soria had come out of his goal to claim and the lack of communication meant Chakla passed the ball past his own goalkeeper and into the net. 

 

April 22, 2021

It was a terrible way to undo Getafe's hard work and things got even tougher for them in the 33rd minute. Getafe had dealt with Messi's free-kick, but Maksimovic skied his clearance up in the air, Lenglet headed the ball towards Messi, who hit home after seeing his first effort hit the far post.

In the second half, very little was happening and in fact, Barca had the odd chance to extend their lead, but then Getafe got a lifeline midway through the second half. Ronald Araujo stepped on Enes Unal's foot after good play by Kubo. The referee said no, but after a VAR review, he pointed to the spot. Unal got up and took the spot kick and converted with ease as goalkeeper Ter Stegen went the wrong way. 

The goal woke Barca up, but also gave Bordalas' men belief they could leave the contest. They had a couple of promising attacks, but did not have a clear chance to equalise. Then, three minutes from time, Araujo made amends and headed home a Lionel Messi corner at the near post to kill off any chance of a Getafe fightback. 

Messi then had an opportunity to get his hat-trick in added time, but he failed to keep his strike down. In stoppage time, Chakla fouled Griezmann in the box and he stepped up to beat Soria to his left from the penalty spot with the help of the post to complete an easy 5-2 victory. 

The victory meant Barca went five points behind leaders Atletico Madrid and two behind Real with a game in hand against Granada next midweek. For Getafe, they will be disappointed after drawing against Real Madrid on Sunday. They remain four points above the relegation zone and have a huge match at Huesca at the weekend.