With Barcelona's Gerard Piqué sent off for a wild and late challenge on Getafe defender Rafa midway through the first half, this looked like being the day Real, who hammered Espanyol 3-0, closed the five-point gap at the top of La Liga, but Lionel Messi, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta played second-half keep-ball and so Barça made it 21 games unbeaten this season, prevailing 2-1.

Messi had already put them ahead after eight minutes with another ridiculously good goal – a shot that seemed to curl its way around the entire Getafe defence before swerving just inside goalkeeper Jordi Codina's near post. Messi made the second on 67 minutes, breaking away, drawing in the enemy and then releasing team-mate Xavi to score.

Henry 'promoted' at Barça

The France captain Thierry Henry can be thankful his national team coach Raymond Domenech does not share Fabio Capello's obsession with his players playing week-in, week-out. Henry, who watched last week's 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon from the bench was all set to watch Barcelona's victory over Gefafe from the stands before an injury in the warm-up to defender Dani Alves meant Henry was "promoted" to the bench as one of Barça's seven subs