Giacomo Raspadori celebrating the winner. Photo from Atletico Madrid

Getafe CF 0 – 1 Atletico Madrid 

Atletico Madrid came away victorious in the Madrid derby against Getafe, making it five wins in a row as they edge closer to the top of the LaLiga table. 

Simeone’s starting 11 included several players who are not usually featured in the starting lineup. Clement Lenglet started at left-center back, marking his first appearance since October 5. Nahuel Molina started at right-back with Marcos Llorente moving up to right-mid due to Giuliano Simeone’s absence with a hamstring injury, and Juan Musso started in goal after Jan Oblak suffered a muscle strain. 

The first big chance for Atletico came in the sixth minute after Koke (making his 700th appearance for the club) sent in a cross to Nico Gonzalez, who headed the ball from the right side of the six yard box, forcing out a spectacular save by David Soria. 

A couple minutes later, Llorente requested to be subbed off after he appeared to be cleated in the achilles. Antoine Griezmann was the man who came on for Llorente. 

Atletico played beautiful attacking football, building up counterattacks through quick one-twos from Julian Alvarez and Griezmann, as well as strong wingplay through Nico Gonzalez and Alex Baena. Despite many promising attacks, Getafe’s brick-wall defense thwarted every attack. 

Clement Lenglet controlling the ball. Photo from Atletico Madrid

Getafe weren’t just strong defensively, but they created several chances of their own. 

The match remained deadlocked, and it looked as if a tie was inevitable. Promising attacks occurred on both sides of the pitch, yet the defenses held firm. That changed in the 82nd minute, when Baena sent in a ball to Giacomo Raspadori, who played it across to Griezmann who was in prime position to score the winner. Before it could reach him, Domingos Duarte put the ball in his own net for Griezmann.

That own goal in the dying minutes of the game gave Atletico the three points they were looking for, winning their second Madrid derby game of the season.

Atletico’s next match is this Wednesday, November 26 against Inter Milan in the Champions League. A big question before this big match is if Llorente will be healthy to play. The same question arises with Giuliano and Oblak as this squad will need all hands on deck for this dangerous Inter Milan team.