The lowdown on Getafe CF
It's back to Camp Nou on Sunday for the second home game of the 2021/22 Liga season. Getafe are the guests, and here are the bare essentials on the azulones (blues).
Where are they from?
Getafe is a district in the south of Madrid, and the site of the Cerro de los Ángeles, which is traditionally considered to be the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s close to the district of Leganés, so the two clubs are natural rivals.
History
Though formed in 1923, this is actually the third different incarnation of the club. The modern-day Getafe Club de Fútbol started life in the lowest tier of Spanish football in 1983 and took just two decades to become, in 2004, only the fourth club from Madrid (after Real, Atlético and Rayo Vallecano) to play in the top flight.
Eighteen years later and they are still there, having only missed one season of Liga football, and came within just two points of Champions League qualification a couple of years ago.
Head to head
Barça had gone seventeen games without defeat to Getafe, and had only conceded three goals in the last ten of them, when the run ended with a 1-0 defeat at the Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez last October.
Barça were able to avenge that loss with a 5-2 win at Camp Nou, although the final scoreline doesn’t reflect what was actually quite a tight battle, only really settled when Ronald Araujo and Antoine Griezmann netted right at the end.
Generally speaking, although Barça have never found it easy to beat Getafe on their home patch, there have been some big wins at Camp Nou. In the last eight years, Barça have put six goals past them on no fewer than three occasions.
Form guide
After three consecutive top half finishes, Getafe stooped to fifteenth in La Liga last season.
They’ve started 2021/22 with back-to-back 1-0 defeats. The first was to a Valencia side that had a man sent off after just three minutes, and last week they very nearly held Sevilla to a 0-0 draw but were ultimately toppled by an Erik Lamela goal with practically the last kick of the game.
The squad
Most capped internationals
Djené Dakonam (Togo, 59); Allan Nyom (Cameroon, 18); Nemanja Maksimović (Serbia, 31); Stefan Mitrović (Serbia, 26); Enes Ünal (Turkey, 22); Vitolo Machín (Spain, 12); Mauro Arambarri (Uruguay, 4); José Juan Macías (Mexico, 5)
Barça connections
La Masia graduate Carles Aleña (below) played 26 games for Barça before going on loan to Real Betis and then Getafe, who purchased the central midfielder on a permanent basis earlier this year.
Winger/full back Marc Cucurella has followed a similar path. He was loaned and then sold to Eibar, but Barça exercised the buyback clause and he returned to Camp Nou in 2019. However, he then went on loan to Getafe, who purchased him outright in 2020. However, he won’t be appearing against his former club due to injury.
Striker Sandro Ramirez (below) also came up through the Barça youth system. Since being sold to Malaga he has never settled, having been at Everton, Sevilla, Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid and Huesca (from which he is now at Getafe on loan).
Top scorers 2020/21 (all competitions)
Angel (6); Jaime Mata (5); Enes Ünal (5)
New signings
The main additions to the side this season include Mexican José Juan Macías on loan from Chivas, experienced winger Vitolo on loan from Atlético Madrid and seasoned Serbian centre-back Stefan Mitrović, who has arrived from Strasbourg.
The boss
Last season’s coach José Bordalás took the Valencia job at the end of last season, and he has been replaced by Míchel, who played over 400 games for Real Madrid in the 80s and 90s, and was also a stalwart for the Spanish national team.
This is his second stint as Getafe manager after already serving the club from 2009 to 2011. Of his many managerial roles he is probably best known for his achievements at Olympiacos in Greece, while his most recent post before returning to Getafe was at ANAM in the Mexican Liga MX.