Barcelona continued their post-Messi era with a 2-1 win over Getafe on Sunday thanks to goals from Sergi Roberto and Memphis Depay.
Ronald Koeman’s men returned to winning ways with Depay scoring the winner for Barca to ensure all three points. The result ensured that the home team maintained their unbeaten start as they continued their life without Lionel Messi.
Barcelona controlled the possession and dominated the tempo of the game early, and within the first two minutes, they were ahead. The goal came through Sergi Roberto after good work from Jordi Alba.
Despite Barca’s dominance, the Camp Nou faithfuls were silenced in the 18th minute when former Barca player Sandro Ramírez exchanged passes with Carles Alena to score past Marc-André ter Stegen.
The goal was the visitors’ first goal of the season and brought them back on level terms temporarily. However, the home team regained the lead in the 30th minute through summer star signing Memphis Depay. Frenkie de Jong found his Dutch teammate Memphis, who displayed quick feet to create space for himself before beating David Soria in the Getafe goal.
After the break, the away team tried to get back into the game, with Jakub Jankto forcing Ter Stegen into a smart save. As the game went on, Getafe continued to attack the Barcelona goal, but were unable to break the Barca defence, who stood still.
Depay continues to shine for Barca in the absence of Messi
When Barca lost Messi to PSG in the summer, a lot of things were said about their chances of competing for trophies this season.
The Argentine had been behind everything good for Barca and was considered a big miss.
But in his absence, Barca had found a new superstar in Depay who scored his second goal in three games on Sunday.
The Netherlands is proving that there is life without Messi and showed it again in this game. If he continues in this form, it won’t be long before Barca forgets Messi completely.
Getafe still without a point this season
Despite their effort, Getafe left Camp Nou with nothing and they will be feeling extremely hard done by the result. The result leaves the ‘Azulones’ still chasing their first points of the season after losing to Sevilla and Valencia.
They will now hope to kick on after the international break and avoid getting stuck in a relegation fight early in the season as they are sitting in 18th place after three games.
The result leaves Barca in 4th place level on points with Real Madrid, who are topping the league table.
