Getafe 1 - Barcelona 3

Getafe: Luis García; Pulido, Belenguer, Matellán, Pernía; Cubillo (Gavilán 63'), Diego Rivas, Celestini (Vivar Dorado 84'); Mario Cotelo, Güiza (Craioveanu 75'), Riki. 4-3-3.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Oleguer, Puyol, Márquez, Sylvinho; Xavi (Iniesta 77'), Motta (Deco 81'), Van Bommel; Giuly (Messi 69'), Eto'o, Ronaldinho. 4-3-3.

Team changes: Getafe: Pernía, Cubillo, Celestini, Mario Cotelo for Paredes, Redondo, Vivar Dorado, Gavilán / Barça: Márquez, Motta for Edmilson, Iniesta.

Goals:
0-1. 01. Eto'o. Picked up short pass from Sylvinho and fired low shot wide of Luis.
0-2. 62. Giuly. Turned ball past keeper inside area after Eto'o square pass.
0-3. 71. Motta. Curled free kick over defensive wall and inside near post.
1-3. 89. Pernía. Spectacular first time volley after centre from Diego Rivas.

Barcelona kept up the pressure on leaders Osasuna with a 1-3 victory over Getafe. For the second game in a row Frank Rijkaard's side took the lead with less than a minute on the clock, a mistake by Pulido allowing Sylvinho to set up Eto'o for his fourth goal in four days. Gúiza should have done better a few minutes later when he pulled down a long cross only to shoot over the bar, but it was an isolated incident and the visitors could have been further ahead had Luis García not kept out Motta's header, and then Matellán cleared another effort from the midfielder off the line before the break.

The Catalans went further ahead when Eto'o picked up a pass from Ronaldinho to gift Giuly a second goal with just over an hour gone, and Motta made it three when he curled a free kick past Luis García. Getafe hadn't been playing badly though, and Pernía got on the end of a Rivas cross to volley in a spectacular goal in the dying moments. But substitute Messi could have got a fourth goal when he cut through the defence only to be denied by the keeper. A great result for Frank Rijkaard, especially with the Real Madrid derby coming up in a fortnight's time.

There were a couple of downsides to the evenings events though, first of all the sending off of Bernd Schuster (again) by referee Daudén Ibáñez. for repeated protests. But more worrying was the return of racist chanting against Samuel Eto'o by certain sections of the crowd, already provoked by the Catalan separatist issue a few days earlier. After steps were taken last year to eradicate racist behaviour at Spanish football matches it appeared that this had been cleaned up, but it appears that there are still certain undesirable elements who continue. The game was stopped for a short while by the referee for an announcement to be made over the loud-speakers for this to stop, and the club put up messages condemning racism on their electronic scoreboards, although the Federation still decided to fine Getafe €3,000 for the incidents.