La Liga 2023-24 season has kicked off and most of the teams in the league, including FC Barcelona, have played their first round of matches. The Catalan club was unable to get their favored result from this match though.
Barcelona’s tie against Getafe was filled with a number of refereeing decisions that have been criticized by several Barcelona players. While the match was highlighted by these decisions, the team also had to play a very physically demanding match.
This physicality of the match was further enhanced as the team had to play for more than 100 minutes. The stoppages in normal time resulted in eight minutes of extra time being given, while a penalty appeal in the extra time again caused the referee to take the match four or five minutes even beyond the already lengthy extra time.
As Mundo Deportivo has reported, Ronald Araujo, the third captain of FC Barcelona, was one of the players who commented on these aspects of the game after the match. Regarding the extra time and physicality of the match, the player commented:
“Modern football is very physically demanding. You play 90 minutes and then 11 or 12 more. You have to adapt; it’s the football of today. It’s important because you spend more time with the ball on the pitch. We have to keep working and try to win.”
Tensions frequently flared up between the two teams as both of them tried to get the best outcome from the match. However, amid these tensions, there was also a moment of hilarity as Araujo used his hands to control the ball. About this incidence, the player commented with laughs and smiles: “I thought the ball was out, but it was in. Things in football.”
Ronald Araujo and his teammates tried their best to win the match even as the clock ran out at the end of the match. Araujo also had a convincing penalty appeal, which did not end up being a penalty because the referee claimed a handball on Gavi before the incident took place. Ultimately, Barcelona had to settle for a draw in their La Liga defense.
