BARCELONA :A first-half strike by top-scorer Robert Lewandowski earned a below-strength Barcelona a 1-0 LaLiga win over lowly Getafe on Wednesday to maintain their 100 per cent record after seven games.
Barcelona, who rested Pedri and were without the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araujo, Fermin Lopez and Andreas Christensen, went ahead through Lewandowski’s close-range strike in the 19th minute after a poor mistake by Getafe goalkeeper David Soria.
Soria failed to hold on to a Jules Kounde cross and Lewandowski, who was lurking inside the box, pounced on the ball to fire home for his seventh goal of the season.
The hosts dominated proceedings with almost 80 per cent of possession and 16 goal attempts, but wasted numerous opportunities to win by a wider margin.
Soria made fine saves to deny efforts by Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski and three from Raphinha, who also missed a sitter in the 82nd minute, badly misfiring a header from a Kounde cross.
Barca almost paid a heavy price for their missed chances as the visitors could have scored an equaliser in the dying moments.
Getafe fullback Juan Iglesias found Borja Mayoral unmarked inside the box from a quick counter attack, but the striker sliced his first-time effort in the 95th minute.
Barca are top of the standings on 21 points, four ahead second-placed Real Madrid. Getafe are second from bottom on four points.
“When you dominate a game but go only one goal ahead, the opponent sees a possibility of making a run for a better result and often that leads them to push you harder in the last minutes,” Kounde told Movistar Plus.
“But we played a good, controlled game and we could have scored more goals. Sometimes it happens, you can’t always win with a big goal difference. Getafe are always a difficult team to handle. It may have cost us more than usual, but we had the chances to win the game more comfortably.”
Barca will now visit seventh-placed Osasuna on Saturday before hosting Young Boys in the Champions League next week, when they will look to rebound following a 2-1 loss in their opening match at Monaco.
