Barcelona 2 Getafe 0: Camp Nou fans make peace with players after Liverpool rout but Philippe Coutinho jeered

Philippe Coutinho endured a miserable afternoon for Barcelona against Getafe at Camp Nou
Getty Images
Ben Hayward12 May 2019

There were empty seats everywhere. Barcelona returned to Camp Nou for their final home game of the season and after the team’s Champions League collapse against Liverpool on Tuesday, many decided to stay away.

A season-high crowd of 98,299 had packed out this famous stadium for the 3-0 win over the Reds just 11 days ago, but only 57,088 turned up to watch Sunday’s LaLiga game against Getafe.

With the title already won and the pain of the 4-0 loss and European elimination at Anfield still fresh in the memory, this was the Catalans' third-lowest attendance of the season and many of those fans did not take their seats until well after the game had got under way.

Prior to kick-off, there was a somewhat subdued ambience inside the ground as the players warmed up, but the fans did save some special affection for two of their players: Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Lionel Messi.

Ter Stegen was the only Barca player at Anfield who went over and applauded the travelling support and the German goalkeeper also posted a message on Instagram on Friday in which he thanked the fans for their commitment and apologised for the performance in Liverpool.

The 27-year-old was not named as a starter on Sunday, but he was given an ovation by Barca’s fans during the warm-up, when he raised his hands in a gesture to say sorry after the loss on Tuesday.

Messi was also met by huge cheers when the line-ups were read out moments before the start of the match. The Argentine had been targeted by a couple of fans at Liverpool Airport late on Tuesday night, but felt the warmth of the crowd on his return to Camp Nou.

There was no mention of coach Ernesto Valverde when the stadium announcer read out the Barca team, though, perhaps to save the 55-year-old from a hostile reaction from the crowd. Meanwhile, #ValverdeOut was trending on Twitter.

Arturo Vidal gave Barcelona a 39th-minute lead in their final home match of the season
AFP/Getty Images

Getafe gave Barca’s players a guard of honour before kick-off and there was also applause for the members of the Catalans’ 1979 European Cup Winners’ Cup side as they came onto the pitch ahead of the game.

Tepid whistles could be heard when Barca made mistakes in the first half, but the loudest jeers were reserved for Philippe Coutinho, the Brazilian booed every time he touched the ball.

Later, other fans started to applaud him in order to drown out those jeers and there were chants of “Barca until death” at the beginning and at the end of the match.

Applause followed at the final whistle after Barca wrapped up their final home game with an Arturo Vidal strike in the first half and what looked like an own goal from Djene Dakonam under pressure from Messi right at the end.

The Argentine did not really celebrate, but the Camp Nou did.

Lionel Messi was given a good reception and looked to have wrapped up the win but his effort was ruled an own goal
REUTERS

After a difficult week in which Valverde has been targeted on social media and Ivan Rakitic was met by angry ultras outside his home because of a picture on social media of the midfielder smiling in Sevilla in the aftermath of Anfield, peace prevailed on Sunday and apart from the whistles for Coutinho, the expected backlash from fans never really materialised.

After the storm, calm at Camp Nou and Barca will now look to finish the season by winning the Copa del Rey against Valencia in Seville in two weeks’ time, before returning here for the celebrations. Despite the disappointment of Tuesday, things could be a lot worse.

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