On matchday 28 of La Liga, Atlético Madrid hosted Getafe at home. Yes, that team that surprised friend and foe a few weeks ago by beating Real Madrid. When the fixtures of today were played in the first leg back in November, it was perhaps the worst match I have seen since I arrived here in Madrid, so it could only get better than that game.
At the Coliseum the derby ended in a 0:1 victory for los Rojiblanco. Apart from a truckload of fouls and timewasting from the team of Jose Bordalas, there was not much to see that night. In the end, Atleti managed to win the match thanks to an own goal. As I took my seat in the windy Metropolitano, I was hoping for anything better than that.
The song Thunderstruck by ACDC is traditionally played when Atlético’s starting eleven is announced, but after 8 minutes we were treated to a real thunderbolt as well. After a corner, Nahuel Molina stayed on the left flank and without hesitation the Argentine right back unleashed a fenomenal strike. From about 25 meters, the shot flew beautifully into the top right corner. David Soria was rooted to the ground for what was probably the best goal of Molina’s career. For the Argentine world champion, it is his first goal this season.
it was clear Molina was in great form, as the next chance came again from him. In the 15th minute, the Argentine tried his luck from distance once more, this time without success.
The visitors did not create many chances in the first half, and their hopes of a first away win against Atleti since 2010 did not grow because of that. The home side, on the other hand, pushed hard to extend their lead. With chances for Alexander Sorloth among others, they came close, but both teams went into the dressing room with a 1:0 lead for Los Rojiblancos.
The first danger in the second half immediately came from the visitors. After some scrambling in the penalty area, the ball fell to Martin Satriano, who tried to finish it with a clever lob, but the Uruguayan’s effort was stopped by Juan Musso. The man who scored a world class goal against Real Madrid almost did it again against a big club.
A little later, something happened that I had never seen before on a football pitch. After a scuffle between Sorloth and Abdel Abqar of Getafe, referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz went to the VAR screen. It was not clear at first which of the two players it concerned. After a few minutes of reviewing, the referee showed a red card to Abqar, as the Moroccan had made contact with the Norwegian’s “private area”. Very bizarre, but the men of Jose Bordalas had to continue with ten players.
That red card did not hurt Getafe, quite the opposite. With ten men, they suddenly started playing better and more attacking football. It did not look like they were a man down. This resulted in chances, with Luis Vazquez heading a good opportunity wide after a great cross from Juan Iglesias.
The visitors kept pushing and going forward, and for a moment it even looked like goalscorer Molina would go from hero to zero. When Vazquez played a through ball to Mauro Arambarri, the Argentine failed to stop the attack. Luckily for him and all of Atlético Madrid, Arambarri’s shot went well over Musso’s goal.
That same Musso had to stay alert again shortly after for a good chance from Luis Milla, but the goalkeeper delivered an excellent performance and once again denied Getafe a goal.
Towards the end of the match, the home side had several chances to kill the game, thanks to the space left in the visitors’ defense, but the opportunities for substitutes Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez were not taken, keeping Getafe’s hope of a point alive.
That point almost came. In the 96th minute, Adrian Liso got a very good chance after a great cross from Iglesias, but once again the Azulones ran into a brilliant Musso. For me, without a doubt, the man of the match.
The game ended 1:0, the same result as in the first leg, but this time with far more chances. Another home win for Atlético this season, as they are doing exceptionally well at the Metropolitano with 13 wins from 15 home matches and only one loss.
Getafe can look back on a very strong performance and a good run of form. After victories against Real Madrid and Real Betis, they once again played a solid match against Simeone’s team. Bordalas can continue dreaming of bringing European football back to the Estadio Coliseum for the first time since 2020.
