Paulinho rescues Barca at Getafe
Dembele suffers hamstring injury
MADRID, Sept 16, (AFP): Paulinho scored his first Barcelona goal six minutes from time as the Catalan giants came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Getafe on Saturday and open up a seven-point lead over Real Madrid.
Barca were dealt a double blow before half-time as record signing Ousmane Dembele limped off with a hamstring injury before Gaku Shibasaki’s sensational volley put Getafe in front.
However, Barca’s responded thanks to their substitutes as both
Samuel Umtiti headed Barca’s best chance of the half straight at Vicente Guaita from Andres Iniesta’s cross.
However, the visitors’ flow was further disrupted when Dembele limped off with a reported hamstring
Barcelona’s forward from Argentina Lionel Messi (right), vies with Getafe’s defender from Uruguay Damian Suarez during the Spanish league football match Getafe CF vs FC Barcelona at the Col Alfonso Perez Stadium in Getafe on Sept
16. (AFP)
injury that could see him sidelined for the coming weeks.
Barca had barely got 11 players back on the field as Gerard Deulofeu replaced the Frenchman, before they fell behind.
Roberto’s headed clearance fell invitingly for Shibasaki to thunder an unstoppable dipping volley beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barca nearly responded before halftime as only a stunning finger-tip save from Guaita turned Lionel Messi’s dipping free-kick behind.
Valverde was forced into another change at the start of the second period as Denis Suarez replaced Iniesta.
And it was the substitute who inspired Barca’s revival as he collected Roberto’s cut-back from the right wing before bending the ball high past Guaita into the top corner.
With Messi well-marshalled and Luis Suarez way off form for most of the second period, Getafe had chanes to grab a winner themselves. Ter Stegen was called into action twice in quick sucession to save from Alvaro Jimenez and Mauro Arambarri.
However, the hosts were hit with a sucker punch when Paulinho burst onto Messi’s through ball and smashed across the despairing Guaita into the far corner.
It was only his third Chinese Super League (CSL) goal since he joined Shenhua in January from Boca Juniors in a move hailed at the time as a coup for Chinese football.
But Tevez, whose list of former clubs also includes Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus, could only stand and watch as his demoralised side fell apart.
Brazilian international Hulk, who was a class apart, grabbed a well-taken brace for SIPG, who are second in the CSL under Andre VillasBoas.
There was a heavy security presence at the stadium before and during the game.
There were isolated scuffles when police moved in on a section of Shenhua fans 30 minutes after the whistle and officers appeared to make at least one arrest, before security personnel shooed journalists away.
Villas-Boas, whose side are into the semifinals of the AFC Champions League, said: “The first goal was decisive to open Shenhua up a little bit and they started giving lots of space and that’s why we managed to go on and get such a high score.
“It’s a difficult moment for Shenhua and as a coach it’s not
Villas-Boas
easy to take a defeat like that so I hope — with full respect for the SIPG fans — that Shenhua are able to recover after this defeat.”
The heavy loss was Shenhua’s fifth CSL defeat on the bounce and leaves them looking nervously over their shoulder near the bottom of the 16-team table.