Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has insisted that his team were unlucky not to beat Getafe in their La Liga stalemate on Saturday afternoon.

The Catalan outfit have been widely criticised for their toothless performance in Madrid, but the Croatian has said that Barca "were far better" than their opponents.

"It wasn't a bad game, we were far better, but Getafe defended well. They were all within 20-25 metres from one another and today, again, we hit another one off the post," Rakitic told reporters.

"We're not making excuses, we need to be self critical, but it's a long season and we need to keep working hard."

Barca trail La Liga leaders Real Madrid by four points after 15 games of the season.