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Barca vow to fight back after shock loss

Comment: 0 November 28th, 2011 by: admin

NO need to press the panic button yet.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola remained unnerved on Sunday even as his side suffered their first defeat in the La Liga this season.

For Guardiola there is still a long way to go despite seeing Barca absorbing a shock 0-1 loss at the hands of Getafe on Saturday.

The stunning setback saw the Catalans falling six point behind arch rival Real Madrid who earlier firmed up their place at the top after a 4-1 swamping of neighbours Atletico at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Fullback Juan Valera’s goal midway through the second half lifted Getafe to the stunner and sent Barca reeling to their first defeat in any competition this year.

Guardiola confidently said that they will recover from the loss and move on. ‘We are competing against a great rival and you don’t get many opportunities to slip up.’

Striker David Villa echoed the same sentiment, telling Barca TV: ‘It’s a shame to find ourselves so far behind the leaders, but this is not over. Soon we will come up against Madrid and we are quite capable of beating them so that is what we need to be thinking about.’

Defender Gerard Pique also calmed the nerves of their fans by asking them to keep their faith. ‘The table shows they (Madrid) are better than us just not but this is not finished. We will go to the Bernabeu and try to dominate possession, as we always have done.’

Barca have still two games in the league, at home to Rayo Vallecano and Levante, before they travel to Real Madrid for the much-awaited first ‘clasico’ encounter of the season on December 10.

The Catalans dominated possession against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez but were surprised in the 67^th minute when Valera headed home the winner in the 67^th minute. Getafe are now at 13^th spot with 13 points.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit two penalty kicks for Madrid who also got goals from Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain. Adrian Lopez made the lone goal for Atletico.

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