Date: Saturday, 09/15/2012 20:00

Competition: League

Stadium: Coliseum Alfonso Pérez

City: Getafe

Capacity: 17.000

Referee: Teixeira Vitienes, Fernando

Player Information

• Iniesta has been sidelined for 10 to 15 days. Pulled his adductor in his right leg during the Spain vs Georgia international game. Cesc Fabregas (who has had two good games with Spain) or Thiago will probably be placed in midfield instead of The Don
• Jordi Alba has the flu. He missed the latest training session and will be looked as soon as possible. He probably won't start or participate on Saturday night. Adriano will take his spot.
• The Spanish internationals (Valdes, Pique, Alba, Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, Pedro, Villa), Adriano, Alves and Song have all returned from international duties. Barta and Montoya have also returned from their duties with the Under 23's. Messi, Mascherano and Alexis will be back in Thursday on Thursday. Whether they will participate in the game at one point of the game or not is another question...

My Predicting Line Ups, Expectations and Scoreline

--------------Valdes-----------------
Alves--Mascherano--Puyol--Adriano---
----------------Song----------------
--------Xavi------------Fabregas----
Pedro----------Villa--------Sanchez--

I don't really want Messi to start. He has played two consective games in two days and he really will need the rest. I don't think Tito will risk it though I would like to see Villa start and then come off after the 50th minute, replaced by Messi. Villa needs game time and this is a perfect opportunity. Its not the right time though and away games are always tough for us and not having our star player playing is definately a risk.

Song will start imo. Has shown great signs and is looking to improve. Busquests may start especially with Iniesta injuried. He is the heart of the midfield and we probably need him especially if Fabregas is not on his game. Talking about Fabregas, I can see him starting with Iniesta out. Thiago probably needs to rest another week before starting for us. Hopefully after playing well with Spain, he will perform well with us. Needs to be confident infront of goal and his movements needs to improve, if he wants to retain his spot in the starting side...

Puyol may start and with Pique starting two straight games with Spain, he will probably may get the nod. If he requires to wear a face mask then by all means Pique start. Alves will start on the right and Adrinao on the left with Mascherano in the middle...

I predict that Barca will win 2-1. Messi will save us. We always have tough trips away and Saturday night won't be any different.

Messi is probably tired, Xavi is probably tired, Iniesta is injured. Meanwhile Getafe has been resting and training for this game two weeks.

Things are looking great for this game.

jiopsi wrote:Messi is probably tired, Xavi is probably tired, Iniesta is injured. Meanwhile Getafe has been resting and training for this game two weeks.

Things are looking great for this game.

This is why I really hate international breaks... Especially friendlies...

This game smells like draw or one goal defeat. 1-1 is my prediction, we will waste 2 great chances as usual, Getafe will score 1 goal from 2 shots on the target.

I think we will beat Getafe. They have lost the element of surprise by taking down madrid. Our team will be focused enough and with last year's defeat in mind.

Pedro, xavi, busquests, cesc, adriano wont be that tired either. they didnt even play 180 mins each in the last 2 weeks. Messi will probably get 1 or 2 chances and will score, apart from that he probably just stroll around on the pitch for the rest of the match.

On a diff note, Puyol kinda looks like a superhero with that mask.

What should we call him?

Captain Catalonia anyone?

Official: Alexis has a left thigh muscle injury, he's out for the game against Getafe on Saturday.

Return of the MVP?

Damn another one!!

--cesc-------messi--------pedro-------------alba------messi-----pedro-------

------song-------------xavi----------------------cesc--------xavi---------

------------busquets---------------------------------busquets-------------

-adriano--puyol---pique------alves---------adri-----puyol-----pique----alves

A very tough encounter for Barcelona, given they usually flop after international break, have many injuries and the fact that they are playing a good team such as Getafe at their home.

I expect Getafe to show cohesion in defence, filling each and every gap and playing very defensively while looking to hit Barcelona on counters and set-pieces, which they are very good at. Let's not forget they played a good match against Madrid only a couple of weeks ago.

I think we will lose some points, FIFA virus combined with Iniesta injury and a good coach. I'm expecting us to get a draw.

Xavi will play. there is still hope
Tello to start? Or maybe Cuenca?

Donuts wrote:Xavi will play. there is still hope
Tello to start? Or maybe Cuenca?

Cuenca is still out. Tello will most likely start imo now that Sanchez is out. I still don't think Tito has confidence in Villa to start. This means that Messi will definately start whether he needs a rest or not. We seriously need a good start to the league and all our star players need to play... Xavi is hope and helpfully he will bring comfort to the midfield if Fabregas stuffs up...

Getafe "appear" to be in good form. And they've tasted giant blood already (Us lol) but the international break may have messed up their momentum.

Should a good game either way.

List of call ups: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Mascherano, Song, Cesc, Xavi, Villa, Messi, Thiago, Pinto, Bartra, Sergio, Pedro, Montoya, Adriano, Tello y Deulofeu.

You know what is best aspect for this game? The ref is Teixeira Vitienes, renowned anti-Barca. The same ref who also whistled 1-0 loss to
Getafe last season, and who rejected perfectly good Messi goal in injury time.

^ What a massive a* hole that ref is . I remember this incident

Is Thiago fit enough to play?

i hope Villa finally starts in this game.
This and a fine performance from Fabregas

I think Cesc will have a good game to prove himself, but then again I have been wrong before.

We've win the league every time we've won at Getafe.

This game is a final hence.

jiopsi wrote:You know what is best aspect for this game? The ref is Teixeira Vitienes, renowned anti-Barca. The same ref who also whistled 1-0 loss to
Getafe last season, and who rejected perfectly good Messi goal in injury time.

The side ref is responsible for that goal, not the center ref. It's the AR's job to get offside right. That looks offside to me though... but yeah I don't like Teixeira at all.

Will be a very tough game. I think if we win, it will be a fantastic result for us.

looks offside yes, but in the GIF it shows the defender is the one that passed it or swiped it away not Messi meaning it should not have been offside but can't blame the ref for thinking otherwise.

For it to not be offside, the defender has to purposely pass it back to a defender. In the video he clearly tried to get the ball by tackling/poking it away from Messi and it went to Keita. I wanted the goal to stand as much as anyone, but that's not on purpose and therefore the AR was correct in calling the goal offside.

Im hoping for a good performance from Cesc. Thiago should be ready to go soon enough and well Cesc's place in the starting side and indeed the bench gets very limited and with Thiago's presence, it will be hard for him so a good performance on the weekend will be good for him.

CBarca wrote:For it to not be offside, the defender has to purposely pass it back to a defender. In the video he clearly tried to get the ball by tackling/poking it away from Messi and it went to Keita. I wanted the goal to stand as much as anyone, but that's not on purpose and therefore the AR was correct in calling the goal offside.

Where does it say it has to be a purposely played back pass?

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame_2011_12_en.pdf

"A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball
touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee,
involved in active play by:"

Also I think it's refs job to overrule side ref if he sees it wrong. And he had a great view.

It is a big test for our team. We have to beat the likes of Getafe away if we want to win this league. Moreover, missing few players is bad, but should not be decisive issue. I mean our squad depth (bar CB) is pretty good. Otherwise why in hell did we pay millions for Cesc, Alexis and Song +Masia promotions?

I think this game will show the tone of la liga in several months to come. If we win this, we are on a good way to pressure RM and make them do more mistakes in all competitions. I really want these 3 points.