As occurred last weekend Barça will begin the game knowing the result of Madrid’s game. If Madrid beat Depor in the Bernabéu Barça will need 3 points to stay in with a chance of La Liga, if Madrid drop points then a win will return Barça to the top of the table.
Frank Rijkaard has left out Saviola, Ezquerro and Sylvinho, while Marquez is still injured. The big questions are whether Edmilson will continue in midfield and will there be a place for Iniesta who was surprisingly left on the subs bench last week. Iniesta will probably return if Barça are going to play with the speed that will be necessary to break down the best defence in the league - Getafe have only conceded 29 in 35 games this season. It will also be interesting to see how Samuel Eto’o responds to all the nonsense in the press this week. Eto’o is a player who improves with pressure so expect to see him highly motivated tonight. There is also speculation as to how the Getafe defence will deal with Leo Messi after the criticism they received from their manager Bernd Schuster for not stopping Messi’s wondergoal in the cup.
Getafe have four important players out - Güiza, Vivar Dorado, Ruano and Cortés - and already have their UEFA Cup place assured having reached the Spanish Cup Final, however they should be highly motivated if the stories are true that Real Madrid have offered them a bonus payment if they can stop Barça winning. They arrive in great form having beaten Espanyol 1-5 last week in the Olympic Stadium.
So expect another nail-biting evening and a tight game at Camp Nou.Prediction: Barça 2 (Eto’o 2) Getafe 0