Squad Announced For Hapoel Tel Aviv Match

Squad to meet Hapoel Tel Aviv:

Porteros: 1. Ustari; 13. Pato.

Defensas: 2. Contra; 3. Cata Díaz; 4. Belenguer;
12. Licht; 19. Signorino; 21. D. Cortés.

Centrocampistas: 7. Mario Cotelo; 10. De la Red;
11. Sousa; 15. Nacho; 22. J. Casquero; 24. Pablo Hernández; 25. Granero.

Delanteros: 9. Braulio; 14. Manu; 16. Albín; 17. Kepa.

Contra and Belenguer are back and fully fit, then, but there's no Uche, who is out for two to three weeks.

Still, that should be enough to see us past a singularly awful Hapoel outfit who are still bottom of the Israeli top division. True enough, they've started to turn it around a bit lately, and they've parted ways with their old manager... but, c'mon now. Home advantage? One loss in seven? Aye, it's all Geta here.

Oh, and the less said about the 1-1 draw with Zaragoza at the weekend, the better. We should have won that, but for Pato's error.

Squad for Zaragoza match

In a hurry so C&Ped:

Porteros: 1. Ustari; 13. Pato.

Defensas: 2. Contra; 3. Cata Díaz; 4. Belenguer;
5. Mario; 12. Licht; 21. D. Cortés.

Centrocampistas: 10. De la Red; 11. Sousa;
16. Albín; 20. Pallardó; 22. J. Casquero;
24. Pablo Hernández; 25. Granero.

Delanteros: 14. Manu; 17. Kepa; 18. Uche.

Belenguer and Contra back - that's the big news. Whether they actually start or not remains to be seen.

Zaragoza squad:

César, López Vallejo, Paredes, Óscar, Ayala, Aimar, Sergio García, D'Alessandro, Juanfran, Oliveira, Gabi, Celades, Zapater, Diego Milito, Chus Herrero, Goni y Valero.

That's right: 17 players. They have a bunch of injuries, Matuzalem and Sergio Fernandez being by far the most significant ones. There's still plenty of firepower there, though..

International round-up

A few Getafe players took part in recent internationals. Cosmin Contra missed out on Romanian international duty due to injury, but others flew the azulones' flag:

Esteban Granero started against Poland for the Spanish U-21s, being substituted early in the first half after a decent, if unspectacular showing. Miguel Pallardo sat on the bench throughout.

Pato Abbondanzieri was in goal for Argentina against Bolivia (3-0 home win) and Colombia (2-1 away loss.) He wasn't really at fault for either of Colombia's strikes.

Ikechukwu Uche played 78 minutes of Nigeria's 1-0 win over Switzerland.

And nobody got injured.

Copa del Rey

As I incorrectly posted last time around, Getafe faced a trip to Burgos for the Copa del Rey last week.

In fact, this was half-right. Geta do play Burgos in that competition, but not until December.

The first leg will be played on December 12th at El Plantío, with the return leg at the Coliseum taking place, apparently, on January 2nd.

In the meantime, a few Azulones have been away on international duty with various senior and U-21 sides, and I'll provide a full round-up of those after the midweek games are completed.

Geta!

Getafe 2 - 0 Barcelona

Five wins from the last six? Beating Barcelona at home - again? Aye. Aye.

Geta started the better side and, barring letting Henry through for a miscued one-on-one, were the better team throughout the first half thanks to solid defending and an admittedly lacklustre display from the visitors.

It took Manu del Moral to give the hosts the lead; Cata Diaz was able to nod on a deep free kick from the left for Manu to get between the centre-backs and score (video).

The second goal was a long time in coming as Getafe continued to pass comfortably around their jaded counterparts. Still, Gianluca Zambrotta's sending-off for the blaugrana eased things considerably as Albin made it 2-0 (video).

The fringe player had to recover from a poor first touch to score unmarked after Uche's fine pass but, to his credit, he finished beautifully to kill the game off once and for all.

Aupa Geta! The Azulones are - for the time being - in 11th place with 14 points from a potential 36. Hardly a world-beating total, but after that dreadful start to the season it's good that the Coliseum is once again a fortress.

The international break has come at the wrong time for us in that regard, but here's hoping that the momentum remains for the Liga comeback in a fortnight.

Next up, though, is a trip to Burgos midweek for the Copa del Rey 1/16 round. More on that in the next update.

Squad Announced For Barça Match

Freshly nicked from the official club site, here is the squad for tomorrow night's match against Barcelona at the Coliseum:

Goalkeepers: 1. Ustari; 13. Pato.

Defenders 3. Cata Díaz; 5. Mario; 12. Licht; 21. D. Cortés; 23. Tena.

Midfielders: 10. De la Red; 11. Sousa; 15. Nacho; 16. Albín; 20. Pallardó; 22. J. Casquero; 24. Pablo Hernández; 25. Granero.

Attackers: 14. Manu; 17. Kepa; 18. Uche.

No real surprises there; Cosmin Contra's still out, but David Cortes is back and may replace Pallardo (who, incidentally, is a Spanish U-21 callup; more on that later.) Other than that, the lineup may be completely unchanged, more's the pity: it seems that Belenguer needs another (two) week(s) on the sidelines (due to the internationals.)

Anyway. Miguel Pallardo and Esteban Granero, take a bow, as the pair of them have been summoned for Inaki Saez's Spain U-21 squad. Here's hoping that they come back injury-free and richer for the experience. Neither is any stranger to the national setup, of course, and both are only here on loan, but it's good to see that they're gaining recognition.

Meanwhile, Ikechukwu Uche has told Marca that the team is in high spirits and will aim for the win. Well, he's hardly going to say anything else, is he? Nonetheless, there's no arguing with the wee chap: squad morale seems much, much higher now than it was a month ago.

Oh, and Barcelona have Gianluca Zambrotta back in the squad. No Eto'o, though, thankfully.

Laudrup To Messi And Iniesta: Get Bad AIDS

OK, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but Getafe coach Michael Laudrup is certainly not keen not to see Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta line up at the Coliseum on Saturday.

The coach's mood has lightened considerably since Geta begun their recent run of winning form, and this manifested itself in the pre-Barcelona match press conference.

"Everyone's saying what a great player Ronaldinho is," he said. "The same goes for Xavi and Puyol. But, for me, the two have made a difference since the start of the season are Iniesta and Messi.

"Let's see if they catch the flu for Saturday, let's see if they catch a cold. Although, I doubt it, since they're having a great time in Barcelona."

By the standards of managerial interviews, that's Perrier-award winning stuff. Indeed, Geta fans haven't laughed quite as hard at something Barcelona related since our Azulones tonked the blaugrana 4-0 in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg last season.

"A Cup match is different; this is the league," observed killjoy Laudrup as a giggling fit broke out in the front row.

"Last year's Cup match is something unique and, perhaps, will not happen again. It's not logical that a team like Getafe beats Barcelona 4-0.

"It's a good memory for us, but we need to keep our feet on the ground."

Still, he holds out faint hope of a repeat.

"Barcelona win everything at home - but not away. That gives us hope that we can score," he said.

He's not wrong. Barça looked kickass midweek at the Nou Camp against Rangers, which is all the more impressive since the Glasgow side make Real Murcia look like Brazil 1970 in terms of attacking flair.

(Laudrup himself is no stranger to Barcelona's style, having played for them for five wildly successful seasons in the early 90s.)

The boss closed by saying that David Belenguer is still not 100% fit, and he'll allow the capitán to decide for himself whether or not he's ready to play.

Osasuna 0 - 2 Getafe

It's now four wins in five for Geta and, more importantly, today's victory in Pamplona marks our first away victory of the season in the Liga, and second overall.

It seemed to be a largely even game in Navarre until Cesar Cruchaga fouled Uche in the box to give the Azulones a late penalty, which Pablo Hernandez struck home.

Two minutes later, Esteban Granero got a second that effectively ended the game as a contest.

That's a superb result but, sadly for us, Levante, Valladolid and Deportivo all won this afternoon, keeping things tight at the bottom.

However, Getafe are now out of the relegation zone with eleven points from eleven games. Recreativo or Athletic could jump us tonight but, even so, we'll be 15th at the absolute lowest.

But it's still a very close-run thing: only two points separate us from the dropzone, while six remain between Geta and 7th spot, i.e. the Intertoto Cup place.

Still, a fantastic result and one that ends our away jinx. AUPA GETA!

Quique Sacked By Valencia

Yes, yes, it's old news by now, but it's worthy of mention here, given that Quique Sanchez Flores enjoyed some fine times in charge of Getafe not so long ago.

Also, La Liga Loca has prepared a scathing indictment of Valencia - or at least their president - which you can (and really should) read by clicking here.