Atletico Madrid suffered another slip up in their LaLiga title charge as they were held to a 0-0 draw by 10-man Getafe. (More Football News)
Diego Simeone brought up his record-setting 309th victory in charge of Atleti with a win over Athletic Bilbao last time out, but triumph number 310 evaded him on Saturday.
It was not for a lack of trying – Getafe goalkeeper David Soria pulling off a string of impressive stops, while Luis Suarez hit the woodwork.
Allan Nyom saw red for the hosts with 20 minutes left, yet Atleti could not make their numerical advantage count as they were forced to settle for just one point.
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Perhaps spurred on by Real Madrid's earlier win, Atleti started with real intent – Suarez popping a header over before Soria denied Yannick Carrasco.
A rare error from Jan Oblak almost proved costly before the break, though Nemanja Maksimovic was unable to capitalise.
Oblak was back at his best on the hour, standing firm to deny Enes Unal after a sweeping Getafe counter.
Introduced at half-time, Joao Felix thought he had broken the deadlock moments later, but Marcos Llorente failed to keep the ball in play before squaring for the Portugal youngster.
Atleti were handed a boost with Nyom having his booking for a stamp on Renan Lodi upgraded to a red after a VAR check.
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Getafe felt equally as hard done by from their next attack, the referee dismissing what seemed valid appeals for a penalty following Moussa Dembele's challenge on Maksimovic.
Dembele was in the thick of it at the other end soon after, twice testing Soria from close range – the first effort drawing a truly sensational stop – either side of Joao Felix forcing Getafe's goalkeeper into action.
Suarez thought he had won it in the closing stages, only for the post to come to Getafe's rescue, with a 90th-minute miss from Dembele ensuring Real Madrid and Barcelona were handed a boost.
What does it mean? Tight at the top
Atleti had won their last 13 LaLiga games against Getafe without conceding a goal before Saturday's encounter, but that run has now come to an end.
With Madrid beating Elche, the gap at the top is just six points, and that would be reduced to four if Barcelona beat Huesca on Monday.
Sensational Soria
It was a quite incredible display from Soria, who made a total of seven saves. The pick of the bunch was his stop from Dembele in the 75th minute, with the goalkeeper acrobatically lunging to his left to tip a well-struck half-volley wide, while he also held off decent efforts from Joao Felix and Lodi.
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No luck for Demebele
Having perhaps been fortunate to not concede a penalty, Dembele seemed set to be the man to snatch a win for Atleti, yet the on-loan Lyon striker struggled to find a way past the impeccable Soria.
On the one attempt he did, however, he headed wide with half of the goal to aim at. Still without a LaLiga goal, Dembele finished with three attempts, two on target, and one chance created.
Key Opta Stats:
- Getafe have not scored against Atletico since November 2011, their last goal being a Diego Castro strike from the penalty spot in a 3-2 win over the Rojiblancos.
- As well as never scoring in 17 matches against Diego Simeone (D2, L15), Getafe have conceded 31 in that span prior to their clean sheet here.
- Getafe are LaLiga's team with the highest average of fouls per game (16.96).
- Atletico are unbeaten in 15 games without Joao Felix as starter in all competitions this season (W11 D4).
- They are also the team with most clean sheets in LaLiga 2020-21: 13, two more than any other side.
- Atletico (72.74%) recorded their highest possession in LaLiga since at least 2004-05, when Opta started to collect this kind of data.
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What's next?
Atleti trail Chelsea 1-0 in their Champions League last-16 tie, and Simeone's team face the Blues on Wednesday. Getafe, meanwhile, host Elche next Sunday.
