Barcelona return to La Liga action with a home game against Getafe at the Estadi Johan Cruyff

Following a solid win over Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Thursday to begin their new Champions League journey, Barcelona return to La Liga action with a home game against Getafe at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on Sunday Night Fútbol.

Barça come into this one looking to finish a good week with three wins out of three following the victory in Europe and last Sunday’s destruction of Valencia at home. The Blaugrana are still unbeaten this season and have looked more like themselves since the international break, and with three straight league games over the next week the job is to go on a winning streak and continue to get better.

But as every Barça fan knows, games against Getafe are a nightmare: José Bordalás’ side play some of the most annoying and frustrating football (if you want to call it that) in the league, and they are especially annoying when they face the Blaugrana. The game stops a lot, Getafe’s defending walks a dangerous line between physical and dirty, and the only thing that matters for Barça is to come out with three points and no injuries.

Getafe are off to a strong start this season, with three wins from their first four games and impressive victories on the road against Celta Vigo and Sevilla, and they’ll be confident they can steal a result in the Catalan capital if they follow the same gameplan that’s gotten them success against Barça in the past: park the bus, kick the living hell out of every single Blaugrana on the pitch, waste as much time as possible, and take every ounce of joy out of the game.

If you’re a new Barça fan reading this and you’re about to watch us go up against Getafe for the first time, I’m sorry. You have to understand that it won’t be pretty and every Barça fan will be satisfied with a hard-fought 1-0 win. It’s all about the points. As soon as the game ends, we move on and never talk about it again.

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Martín; De Jong, Pedri; Raphinha, Fermín, Rashford; Ferran.

Getafe (5-3-2): Soria; Kiko, Djené, Duarte, Abqar, Rico; Milla, Martín, Arambarri; Liso, Mayoral.