Atletico Madrid Drop Two Vital Points In Draw With Getafe
Atletico Madrid dropped points in their pursuit of the LaLiga Santander title as they were held to a 0-0 draw with ten-man Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
David Soria played a major part in securing a point for Getafe, making several saves over the course of the evening. His first saw him deny Yannick Carrasco with his legs in the first half.
Jan Oblak had a couple of moments himself at the Coliseum. Nemanja Maksimovic almost gave the hosts a first-half lead after the Atletico goalkeeper had parried Carles Alena’s shot.
After bringing on Joao Felix at half time, Diego Simeone waited until midway through the second period to make his second, third and fourth substitutions.
One of those, Renan Lodi, was on the end of a strong challenge from Allan Nyom, who saw red after the subsequent VAR review.
With a man advantage, Atletico pushed for a winning goal. Substitute Moussa Dembele almost provided it but his volley was expertly kept out by Soria.
It was Luis Suarez who came closest to beating the Getafe goalkeeper, who couldn’t get near the Uruguayan’s lob that came back off the post. Marcos Llorente drove over after the ball then fell loose in the penalty area.
With just seconds left of normal time, Lodi found Dembele with a pinpoint cross, only for the January signing to somehow miss the target with his header.
In the end, the winner eluded Los Rojiblancos as they failed to re-establish their eight-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga Santander.
Zinedine Zidane’s side are now within six points of the leaders after their win over Elche. Barcelona host Huesca on Monday night knowing they can cut the gap to the top to four points with a victory.
As for Getafe, they pull five points clear of the relegation zone. They have Soria and his defence to thank for much of that.
