Luis Suarez registered the 300th goal of his career and Neymar added his ninth league goal of the season to remain La Liga’s leading scorer as Barcelona overcome a sluggish start to defeat Getafe.
And with midfielders Andres Iniesta and Sergi Roberto making a successful return from injury, it was a good night for the reigning champions as they kept pace with Real Madrid at the top of the table.
Victory by no means looked certain in an opening 40 minutes which yielded few scoring chances, but after Suarez pounced on a quite breathtaking assist from Roberto to open the scoring, the outcome never looked in doubt.
Barca came close inside the opening seconds of the game, when Neymar reached the byline and delivered a chipped cross towards the onrushing Munir El Haddadi, whose acrobatic attempt drifted well wide.
But that proved to be the high point of the visitors’ efforts in the early going, with Getafe quickly getting to grips with the game and looking comfortable in defence.
It was the home team, in fact, who created the first major chance when a slick move down the left resulted in Victor Rodriguez delivering a good cross which Serbian striker Stefan Scepovic chested down but then snatched at his shot and sent it wide.
Getafe were channelling their defensive efforts to the centre of the field, happy to give space to Barca’s full backs in wide positions in the belief that they would be able to deal with the resulting crosses.
And that approach was working for Getafe, with Barca running out of ideas in the final third and deliveries from Dani Alves and Jordi Alba proving ineffective, although Roberto had half a chance with a 15th minute header from an Alves cross but lacked the power to trouble Vicente Guaita.
A bumpy and uneven pitch was also working against Barca, and as the first half passed its midway point there was no sign of an opening goal, with the visiting team’s star attacking duo of Neymar and Suarez making little impact.
In terms of possession Barca were controlling the game, but they appeared to be missing Lionel Messi’s magic touch as they looked in vain for the necessary cutting edge to create
goalscoring chances.
Indeed, troubling memories of last season’s trip to Getafe, where the Catalan giants were held to a frustrating goalless draw after failing to muster any meaningful efforts on goal, were starting to
resurface.
Shortly before half-time, however, the moment of inspiration they needed was provided from the unlikely source of Roberto, who met a pass from Neymar with an exquisite first-time backheel to break open the Getafe defence and release Suarez, who calmly slotted home inside the near post.
The second half was a very different affair, with Getafe now forced to play with more attacking purpose which in turn opened up much more space for Barca to exploit on the break.
Although Getafe attempted to push for a leveller, the visitors were comfortable in defence and it wasn’t long before they made the game safe with their second goal.
A corner from Getafe was gathered by Claudio Bravo who launched a quick counter-attack by releasing Roberto.
He carried the ball into opposition territory before sending a crossfield pass perfectly into the stride of Neymar, who made no mistake with a first-time left-footed volley.
That was the effectively the end of the game, with Getafe visibly losing any belief in their ability to claim any points and Barca suddenly having much more time and space in possession.
It should have been three when a brilliant piece of skill from Neymar created an opening for Alba, but Guaita stood his ground well to make a save.
And the final minutes passed without incident as Barca cruised home.
