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On a day when Barcelona looked set to drop all three points, Ernesto Valverde sent in two unlikely heroes to rescue the team and walk away with all three points. Denis Suarez and Paulinho came off the bench to score in the 2nd half as Barcelona won 2-1 at Getafe.
Gaku Shibasaki’s stunning strike in the first half saw the home side take the lead and it looked like they were going to run away with all three points with some strong defending. Here are 5 talking points from the game:
#5 - Barcelona are getting back to their rhythm
Ernesto Valverde is finally getting the hang of things and is getting the club back on track. The manager had a tough start - losing back-to-back games to Real Madrid in the Super Copa Final but has now figured out how to handle things.
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His tactics are clicking and the players are now playing as he wants them to. Barcelona conceded a wondergoal – something that no defence or goalkeeper in the world would have stopped.
Despite the winner coming late, the match was dominated by the Catalan side, who kept knocking on Getafe's door.
#4 - Getafe were good, but not good enough
Getafe started the game better than Barcelona, but were just not able to hold things together until the end. They deservingly took the lead in the first half and were brilliant in man-marking Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.
Dakonam and Juan Cala were on top of their games for the whole 90 minutes. However, there was just one moment where Dakonam got outmuscled by Paulinho and that, unfortunately, turned out crucial. The Brazilian scored after getting that extra inch of space, breaking all the Getafe fans' hearts.
Their best player, however, was their goalkeeper, Guaita. He was quick off his lines when the ball slipped past the defence, and pulled off some stunning saves that helped Getafe remain in the game.
Had it not been for him, Messi would have equalized in the first half and the game would have drifted away a lot sooner.
#3 - The 'real' Suarez went missing!
When Denis Suarez came on at the start of the 2nd half, there were THREE players named Suarez present on the pitch. Luis Suarez was leading Barcelona's attack, Denis Suarez had just come on and Damian Suarez was defending on the right flank for Getafe.
While on paper, the Uruguayan striker is easily the best of the three, he was the worst Suarez on the pitch during the match. The former Liverpool striker was unable to do anything significant during the game and was kept quiet by the Getafe defence.
Damian was easily the best of the three on the pitch as he jumped into tackles and defending like never before! Denis Suarez scored Barcelona's equalizer with a stunning shot from inside the box and led the comeback for the Catalan side.
#2 - Paulinho silenced his critics
When Barcelona signed Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande in the summer, a lot was said about his transfer. He was called a 'mule' and also deemed 'not good enough' for the Catalan side by many Pundits and even the Cules.
Last night, nobody had a word to speak against him. The Brazilian saved Barcelona from dropping 2 points at Getafe, with a late striker that got even Lionel Messi clapping!
The midfielder pushed through the Getafe defence and scored past the rock-solid Guaita in the 84th minute. Barcelona fans, who were sulking when he was brought on in the 77th minute, were seen chanting his name at the end of the game.
#1 - Valverde is a genius but has a huge headache now!
Ernesto Valverde made two superb substitutions that helped Barcelona win 2-1 at Getafe. both Denis Suarez and Paulinho came off the bench to score for the Catalan side.
While Suarez took 17 minutes after coming on to score, Paulinho took just 7! The Brazilian showed everyone watching what exactly was missing for the league leaders and scored the winner.
However, things are now set to get complicated for Valverde. With Paulinho and Denis Suarez performing so well, who will he drop? Another big headache is the loss of Ousmane Dembele to a hamstring injury.
The club's record signing was taken off in the 25th minute and is now expected to be out for a few weeks.
