First Division - Day 31

Getafe 0 - Barcelona 1

Getafe: Stojkovic; David Cortés, Cata Díaz, Mario, Rafa; Contra (Granero 46'), Casquero, Polanski, Gavilán; Manu del Moral (Albín 65'), Soldado (Uche 70'). 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Daniel Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Puyol; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Eto'o (Bojan 92'), Henry (Keita 75'). 4-3-3.

Team changes: Getafe: Contra for Granero / Barcelona: Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Eto'o for Martín Cáceres, Sylvinho, Gudjohnsen, Bojan.

Goals: 0-1. 19. Messi. Picked up Xavi square pass and made space to beat keeper.

Yellow cards: Busquets 31', Contra 35', Granero 65', Mario 71', Cortés 78', Alves 87'.

Barcelona beat Getafe 0-1 on Saturday evening to stay six points clear of Real Madrid. Only some good goalkeeping from Stojkovic kept out Henry early on, but Messi beat the keeper in the twentieth minute with a shot which deflected in off Contra.

Stojkovic saved again from an acrobatic Piqué scissors kick and another effort from Messi, and Eto'o and Messi both had good penalty appeals turned down by referee Turienzo Alvarez before the break.

After the restart the locals did have a couple of attacks, but then it was more of the same as the rain started to fall. Messi was incorrectly ruled offside when he found the net after the keeper could only push out Keita's shot, and Eto'o hit the post late on.