At 4:00 a.m. BST on December 7, a much-anticipated 16th round La Liga match kicked off at Getafe's home stadium. The bottom-ranked Getafe faced the 10th-ranked Bilbao, the eight-champion team in the table. Getafe's price tag is 150 million euros, which is only slightly lower than Bilbao's 150 million euros, but there is a huge gap between the two teams. Getafe won only two games in 15 rounds of matches, and fell into the relegation zone, only two points higher than the vice president Levante, while Bilbao is only three points away from the seventh place Barcelona, and if they can win, the points will be equal to Barcelona. However, Getafe has won and drawn in the last two rounds, while Bilbao is without a win in six matches, and the two teams drew at home last season, so it's hard to tell if they will win or lose.
Getafe went with a 442 formation with Unai, Ramirez, and Soria leading the starting lineup, while Bilbao also went with a 442 formation, with Inaki, Raúl García, and Simon sitting in the starting lineup, with neither side attacking easily.
The first half was a scoreless affair, with Bilbao having the better of the possession, but Getafe had more shots on goal, all three on target, and the game was deadlocked.
The match ended in a 0-0 draw. Bilbao was in poor condition and suffered the embarrassment of seven consecutive matches without a win, while Getafe showed tenacity by drawing the higher-ranked Bilbao despite a possession rate of only 45%. This is undoubtedly a worthy example for the national soccer team. The second-to-last Getafe was able to draw a strong opponent, why can't the national soccer team challenge strong teams like Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia? The difference in strength between Asian teams is not huge, and the national soccer team always loses against higher ranked teams, so the national soccer team should really learn from Getafe. I hope the new coach Li Xiaopeng can learn from Getafe's draws, and if they can apply what they've learned, they'll still have a chance to make it out of the tournament.
