The lowdown on Getafe CF
Where are they from?
Getafe is a district in the south of Madrid, and the site of the Cerro de los Ángeles, which is traditionally considered to be the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s close to the district of Leganés, so the two clubs are natural rivals.
History
Though formed in 1923, this is actually the third different incarnation of the club. The modern-day Getafe Club de Fútbol started life in the lowest tier of Spanish football in 1983 and took just two decades to become, in 2004, only the fourth club from Madrid (after Real, Atlético and Rayo Vallecano) to play in the top flight.
Sixteen years later and they are still there, having only missed one season of Liga football and steadily improving – they have finished in the top eight in the last three seasons and came within just two points of Champions League qualification a couple of years ago.
The Stadium
Built in 1998 the 17,000 capacity Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez was named after the striker born in Getafe who was a regular for Spain at major championships from 1996 to 2002.
Curiously, however, he never made senior appearance for the local club. He left for Real Madrid at an early age, became a legend at Betis and signed for Barça in the year 2000. He never managed to establish himself at Camp Nou and left Barça after just two seasons in which he managed two goals in 21 appearances.
Head to head
Barça are on an impressive seventeen match unbeaten run in all competitions against Getafe, and have only ever lost to them twice, in 2007 and 2011.
The last time they played was a 2-1 for Barça at Camp Nou in February, only the third time Getafe had scored in 12 meetings.
In three of the last seven games at Camp Nou, Barça have racked up six goals, but the games in Madrid tend to be much tighter affairs.
Form guide
Getafe’s season got off to a fine start. They didn’t concede a single goal in their first three games (wins at home to Osasuna and Betis and a draw at Alavés). But things didn’t go quite so well in their most recent outing, a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad.
The squad
The main addition to the squad has been Turkish international Enes Ünal, who arrives from Villarreal, while the club also exercised the option to pay Marc Cucurella’s buyout clause, thus making the player on loan from FC Barcelona and official part of their squad.
Speaking to the media this week, Cucurella said: "I didn’t get the chance to prove myself at Barça, but that helped me to improve at Eibar and Getafe. We’ll see whether I ever get the chance to go back to Barcelona. The way they play at Getafe is very different to La Masía. But I have adapted to Bordalás’ ways and it’s been positive. He varies his approach and that wins games.”
Most capped internationals: Fayçal Fajr (Morocco, 33); Djené Dakonam (Togo, 49); Allan Nyom (Cameroon, 18); Nemanja Maksimović (Serbia, 22); Enes Ünal (Turkey, 14)
Top scorer 2019/20 (all competitions): Jaime Mata (14), Angel (14)
The boss
José Bordalás had only ever played or managed in the lower leagues until he guided Alavés to promotion to La Liga in 2016, but was rewarded with being sacked. Getafe secured his services instead, and have been playing some wonderful football under his charge.