Barcelona boss Xavi was left enraged as their 2023/24 La Liga campaign kicked off with a fiery 0-0 draw away at Getafe.
La Blaugrana travelled to Madrid hoping to end their poor run of league results at the Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
Barcelona have now drawn their last three league games 0-0 at Getafe with the team from the capital emerging as a nemesis for Xavi.
As expected on the night, the contest was a gritty battle from the first whistle, with three red cards issued by the end of the contest.
Brazilian winger Raphinha was sent off for an elbow on Gason Alvarez before the break with Jaime Mata dismissed for repeated fouling.
However, the scrappy nature of the tie continued throughout the closing stages, with Xavi also ordered from the dugout by referee Cesar Soto Grado for complaining against his calls.
Xavi was lost for an explanation at full time and he faces the prospect of another touchline ban.
“I told him (the referee) he was allowing too many fouls. That’s why he sent me off”, as per reports from Marca.
“There’s nothing else to say. I have commented in the past and they ban me for it.
Images via Getty Images
This getafe or whatever is a rugby team, no plan to play football whatsoever
Yes they are i agree with you but thats the way they have always played its their strengths and it shouldn’t be a surprise or used as an excuse it’s up to barca and xavi to figure it out and solve the problem,raphina played into their trap and payed for it and let his team mates down,Lewandowski spent more time rolling on the ground than being a centre forward he was god dam awful and has been for quite some time,to sub pedri and Gundogan off and keep Lewandowski on the pitch was simply 🤯 is Lewandowski untouchable or something ? is xavi not allowed to sub this man lol,its early days yes i know but guess what xavi your under pressure already and i dont think you’re excuses are going to save you this year pressure is on,thank god we have a great defence or we really would be in trouble,xavi reminds me so much of Frank Lampard a great player a not so great manager.
Does your assertion of “that’s how they’ve always played, it’s their strengths” make it right or legal?
– Damian Suarez clearly elbowed Gundogan in the solar plexus & committed several fouls, but the referee didn’t seem him worthy of a booking until the 87th minute.
– Carles Alena rugby tackled Raphina off the ball, the Brazilian he attempted to run onto a long ball, but the referee didn’t think it was a foul. Which led to Raphina foolishly committing the foul that led to his dismissal, but according to the commentators, an opponent trying to maim you is a trap for you to fall into.
– Mata’s 2nd yellow card offense was arguably a straight red card.
– Then he bottled a penalty decision giving a non-existent handball offense instead.
The referee’s leniency towards Getafe’s strong arm tactics basically enabled them. He ought to have stamped it out long before then and preserved the game.
It absolutely doesn’t make it right or legal you are correct but i stick by what i said about it shouldn’t be a surprise to xavi or the barca players they have played against getafe many times before and not only that they have played against bordelas managed teams many times before so it’s not as if they didn’t know what to expect from this team and their manager surely they would and should have done their homework on them as they say,that being said there were many other factors along with this that contributed to the match result as most people has rightly mentioned the refereeing in this match was abysmal not only for the penalty decision but the refereeing generally throughout this match as a whole,but as a barca fan and as i’ve said before i also have no doubt that xavi has to take a hell of alot of the blame for this result imo his starting lineup and formation to start this match left me speechless packing the team with midfielders against a mid table team playing with 5 or 6 defenders at the back i mean what was that all about xavi ? also his decision to keep lewandowski on the pitch who basically spent more time rolling about on the ground than playing and contributed basically nothing the entire match was simply mind boggling and even more so considering we had 3 goals in 3 games ferran torres sitting on the bench who didn’t even get used god only knows what he was thinking to himself lol,lastly raphina also didn’t help matters and fell into the trap they set and should know better and learn from this although to be fair to him he has came out and apologised for his actions to the club and fans unlike his manager xavi who should have been self critical of his own game plan,formation,decisions,starting lineup along with his criticism of the refereeing but wasn’t as usual.
The only good thing about this match was that we got one of the Getafe sh*tshows out of the way on the first day of the season.
Garbage football (as usual from Bordelas), garbage officiating.
Next.
Terrible refereeing, off the ball fouls ignored and a clear penalty at the end as Gavi was clearly held and kicked in the chest.
Sincerely, why would xavi use 4 midfielders against a defensively packed team does his not know that he is packing them the more instead he should use wingers to widen the pitch and stretch them out. Just dont know why xavi is so obsessed with 4 man midfield, it isn’t every time he should use that. Cos i was wondering why did ansu came in so late he should have started.
against cadiz there is a 90% chance of xavi using 4 man midfield.
i prefer the classic 4-3-3 formation u know with two wingers, 3 midfielders, 4 defenders or 4-2-3-1 formation with double pivot, 2 widemen, a 10 and 4 defenders.
Does ‘he’ not know that
He did the exact same in the 1st leg of the europa league match against man utd last year which cost us the tie,he never learns from or admits his own mistakes its either the oppositions fault,the weather too sunny too hot,the physicality,var,referee,grass too long,grass too short,grass to dry not watered enough you name it he has used it and quite frankly its getting embarrassing and tiring now,is it any wonder hes picked up the nickname the gardener lol.