A nine-man Atletico Madrid held on late for a scoreless draw against Getafe but dropped three points behind Real Madrid for second place in the process. Getafe stayed within three points of European spot but will likely be disappointed not to get a win after playing 18 minutes with the man advantage.
Getafe vs. Atletico Madrid, 2013 La Liga: Final score 0-0, Getafe draws 9-man Atleti
Atletico Madrid dropped to three points behind Real Madrid for second place with a scoreless draw against Getafe.
Atletico missed a wonderful chance to take an early lead in the 6th minute after Diego Costa sliced apart the Getafe defense down the left wing before finding Radamel Falcao unmarked less than 6-yards in front of the goal. Falcao’s normally lethal self completely botched the effort, sending the ball wide of the goal.
Luis García Plaza was forced to make a substitution in the 17th minute after Pedro León tweaked a muscle injury he was carrying. It was a bit of a risk to play León and it didn’t work out so well for Getafe.
Beyond those two interesting moments, it was a drab and overly physical scoreless first half. Ateltico clearly had the quality and are the better side but Getafe succeeded in mucking things up enough, an drawing Atleti into that style of play, to keep the match under wraps.
Getafe opened the second half with a excellent chance to take the lead but Atleti goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was up to the task, blocking Abdel Barrada's curling shot from just inside the Atleti area.
Controversial moment in the 68th minute when Diego Godín tripped Adrián Colunga right on the edge of the Atletico area. The foul appeared to occur right on the line, which should have been a penalty, but the referee have a free kick just the edge instead. Getafe couldn’t take advantage though as Abdelaziz Barrada went just wide of the far post.
Atleti’s Mario Suárez received his marching orders in the 72nd minute, picking up a second yellow card for a handball near midfield. It was a pretty iffy call and didn’t look deliberate at all, but the referee appeared to follow the letter of the law and showed Suárez red.
Godin brought his arm up on Álvaro Vásquez, hitting him in the back of the head with his elbow in stoppage time. The referee, who had booked two other players for similar fouls, wasted no time showing Godin his second yellow and leaving Atletico to finish with nine players on the pitch.
Getafe couldn’t take advantage of the red card and the match ended with no goals on the scoreboard.
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