Barcelona make it eight wins from eight in La Liga

Barcelona beat Getafe 3-0 on Saturday evening and are still the only side in Spain's top division without a dropped point. Eight matches, eight wins, twenty-four points.

Getafe are usually the awkward afternoon on anyone's calendar — a team that turns a football match into something closer to a wrestle. Barcelona got through it by three goals, which says as much as the scoreline does.

The goal difference is the number that stands out. Plus twenty-seven after eight games. Nobody else in the division is within seventeen of it.

Behind them the chase is tight. Atlético Madrid won 2-1 at Alavés and Real Betis beat Osasuna 5-2, and both sit on nineteen points. Real Madrid are a point further back on eighteen after beating Villarreal 1-0 — a narrow win, but a win, and their second defeat of the season is still the only thing separating them from the top two.

Elsewhere Real Sociedad came through 3-2 against Deportivo La Coruña, Elche and Celta drew 0-0, and Málaga and Espanyol shared a point on Friday night.

Five points is not an unassailable lead in October. But a team that has not drawn, let alone lost, in eight attempts does not usually hand the thing back without being beaten first, and so far nobody has got close.