A heavily depleted Real Madrid side scraped a 0-0 draw at struggling Getafe on Sunday, falling three points behind leaders Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race. Real beat Barcelona 2-1 last week and overcame Liverpool in midweek to reach the Champions League semi-finals but were crippled by the absence of nine players due to either injury, suspension or Covid-19 positives.
Forward Mariano had an early goal ruled out for offside after a VAR review but Getafe had far more and far better opportunities, hitting the woodwork in the first half and being thwarted by two fine saves from Thibaut Courtois in the second.
The draw interrupted a run of four straight league wins for Zinedine Zidane’s side and left them second on 67 points after 31 games, three behind leaders Atletico who thrashed Eibar 5-0 earlier in the day. Getafe are 15th on 31 points, three above the relegation zone. “I don’t see this as two points dropped, it’s always difficult to come here,” said Real defender Marcelo. “We knew what it would be like here, the pitch was very dry and we couldn’t get the ball moving quickly. We have hardly any time to rest but we have to keep on giving everything, that’s what football is like right now.”
Despite the many absences, Zidane chose to start without top scorer Karim Benzema and left Toni Kroos on the bench, handing a first start to defender Victor Chust and a debut for 20-year-old midfielder Antonio Blanco from the bench. Getafe could have scored three times in the opening 10 minutes and then striker Jaime Mata struck the post with a header. Real’s Mariano saw a shot cleared off the line from David Timor, adding to his frustration after his goal was chalked off for a fractional offside.
The home side continued to dictate the play after the interval as Real grew ever more tired but Getafe could not get past Real keeper Courtois. The Belgian flew towards the top corner to beat away a shot from Angel Rodriguez and then reacted quickly to tip a long range effort from Nemanja Maksimovic over the bar after it took a deflection off Chust.
Getafe had two penalty appeals waved away for incidents involving Real centre back Eder Militao, who brought down Enes Unal in the first half and then collided with Angel just as the forward was getting his shot away.
Sevilla came from behind to win 2-1 at Real Sociedad on Sunday and stay in contention for an unlikely La Liga title bid. The visitors, who won a dramatic match at Celta Vigo 4-3 in their last fixture, fell behind in the fifth minute to a goal from their former forward Carlos Fernandez.
But they responded with two quick-fire strikes by midfielder Fernando and striker Youssef En-Nesyri in the 22nd and 24th minutes to move into the lead. Brazilian Fernando created the danger for the equaliser and then pounced on a poor clearance from Robin Le Normand to score.
En-Nesyri also showed good anticipation when he put his side in front moments later, following up a deflected shot which came off the post to steer the ball into the unguarded net. Sevilla comfortably defended their lead in the second half to record a fifth win in six league games which included a 1-0 victory at home to Atletico this month.
Sevilla are fourth in the standings on 64 points after 31 games, six behind leaders Atletico Madrid. Sevilla have not won the Spanish title since 1946 and have not finished in the top two since 1957 but En-Nesyri dared to dream. “We’ll go all out to win the seven games we have left and try to win La Liga. We’re going to fight for the title,” he told reporters.
Sevilla visit Levante tomorrow before home games against Granada and Athletic Bilbao. They travel to Real Madrid on May 9.