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Struggling Madrid held to goalless draw by Getafe
GETAFE, Spain, April 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Real Madrid’s dreary end to the
season took another turn for the worse on Thursday as they were left holding
on for a goalless draw away to Champions League chasers Getafe.
Just 48 hours before Barcelona are set to be celebrating a 26th La Liga
title at Camp Nou, Madrid drifted to a stalemate that leaves them 15 points
behind the soon-to-be champions and, on this evidence, with significant
ground to make up.
It says something that Getafe were, in the end, disappointed not to win
here, Sevilla’s 5-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano before kick-off meaning they
stay fourth, only by virtue of a superior head-to-head.
Real Madrid were mathematically ruled out of the title race after Barcelona
beat Alaves on Tuesday while Atletico Madrid look likely to finish above them
too for a second consecutive year.
Zinedine Zidane has insisted La Liga will be the club’s “bread and butter”
next season, their priority ahead of the Champions League after seven years
with only one league title to their name.
But they have work to do, with very few of his squad showing many reasons
to keep them this summer and several more looking like they could well be
replaced.
“The shame today is we deserved more,” Zidane said. “We created chances, in
the first half especially. I am not happy with the result, but with the way
we played, our concentration, I am happy.”
Getafe still have a lot to play for. If they snatch a Champions League
spot, it would be one of the greatest shocks La Liga has seen in years,
perhaps even trumping Atletico Madrid winning the title in 2014.
Their average attendance here is just under 10,000 while the club’s wage
bill stands at a little less than 40 million euros. Madrid’s is close to 570
million.
Karim Benzema skewed wide of the far post with 62 seconds on the clock and
Madrid hardly created a better chance for the rest of the half.
Gareth Bale started and was greeted by silence rather than the whistles
that have accompanied him at the Santiago Bernabeu in recent weeks. But he
looked low on confidence, a shadow of the player he can be.
Bale pulled back for Benzema, who could only find the hands of David Soria
on the slide while Casemiro had an instinctive effort blocked from six yards.
But Getafe were largely untroubled even if they lacked creativity, their
best opening coming from a free-kick which Mauro Arambarri caught well but
Keylor Navas was equal to.
For 10 minutes, Madrid peppered the Getafe goal after the break. Soria came
out quickly to deny Bale, pushed a Casemiro shot around the post and then
saved from Isco, who should have scored after Dani Carvajal picked him out.
Bale and Brahim Diaz departed, replaced by Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez,
but it was Navas that was called upon next, making two quick-fire saves to
keep out Jorge Molina and Jaime Mata.
Mata wanted a penalty for a Carvajal push as Getafe looked more likely to
find a late winner. It was not to be. Getafe’s Champions League dream hangs
in the balance.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0833 hrs