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| Getafe players celebrate after scoring the opening goal during the La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Getafe at Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) |
Striker Enes Unal got the host’s winner in the ninth minute
after he stole the ball from Madrid defender Éder Militão near the goal and
beat Thibaut Courtois.
Madrid went no closer to an equalizer than Luka Modric’s
strike that hit the crossbar in the 17th. Eden Hazard and Marcelo came on as
halftime substitutions but could not spark a comeback.
Carlo Ancelotti gently chastised his team for not playing at
its best in its return from a winter break that lasted less than two weeks.
“We can’t get carried away by this loss,” Ancelotti said.
“We are still leaders and are excited about what is to come… A player who
normally stands out for his defensive play gifted them their goal. There is not
much more to say, except that it looked like we thought we were still on
vacation.”
Madrid’s previous loss came on Oct. 3 when it fell 2-1 at
Espanyol. Since then, it had won 13 and drawn two across all competitions.
Ancelotti had steered Madrid to wins over Barcelona,
Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Inter Milan during its unbeaten run.
But it was unable to rally after a mistake by Militão, who
tarnished his otherwise excellent season along with centerback partner David
Alaba, with the pair filling the void left by the exits of veterans Sergio
Ramos and Raphael Varane.
Toni Kroos appeared to have snuffed out Getafe’s attack when
he recovered the ball and shuffled it over to Militão, but Unal pressured him
hard and poked the ball clear before scoring.
“Sometimes as a striker, you just sense that there can be
something there. Luckily it worked out,” Unal said about his goal.
Getafe, which beat Osasuna 1-0 in the last round before the
winter break, rose three points clear of the relegation zone in 15th place.
The modest club from a neighborhood of Madrid started the
season losing its first seven matches. But it has turned things around in the
league after Quique Sánchez Flores took over in early October and has gone
unbeaten in six rounds.
Second-place Sevilla visits Cádiz on Monday nine points
behind Madrid.
Courtois started the match after it was determined that his
positive COVID-19 result from earlier this week was erroneous. Madrid was
without in-form winger Vinícius Júnior after he tested positive for the
coronavirus.
The match was the first to be played since Spanish health
authorities put back in place caps on attendance after the steep rise in
COVID-19 infections. All games are limited to 75% of capacity, with some
regions like Catalonia and the Basque Country applying even lower limits. -AP
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