After a bullish start to the season, Atletico Madrid’s strong form had started to abate by the international break, and coach Quique Sanchez Flores will be eager for his troops to rediscover their strength for a derby encounter against Getafe.
Los Colchoneros have only one win in their last six matches in all competitions, and even that came by virtue of a slender victory over a Real Zaragoza side struggling for form in the early weeks of the season. Aris started the rot in the Europa League, and though Atleti picked up a creditable draw in Valencia, they finished up before the brief recess with a heavy 3-1 loss against Sevilla.
“We are conceding very few goals, and we have the basis to achieve great things,” Mario Suarez mused before this encounter, wary of los Azulones’ dangerous nature. “We know that Getafe are a tough team and like to play good football. At this point we thought we would have a couple more points, but the team is good and we must continue with this attitude, starting against Getafe on Saturday.”
The gauntlet has been thrown down by the midfielder: anything short of three points will be a disappointment for los Rojiblancos, who don’t go into their hectic autumn calendar with anything like the momentum they started the season with.
Finding Their Stride
Beside Atletico Madrid in the Primera Division standings are near neighbours Getafe. With three wins and one draw from their opening six matches, Michel’s side have slowly started to display the kind of form that lifted them into European contention last season, despite struggling in the early weeks of the campaign.
Successive victories over Racing Santander and Hercules have propelled the capital club into the top half of the table after a difficult start to the season saw them earn only four points from four games. Fears arose that their coach may be enduring a dose of ‘second season syndrome’, but the signs are that he and his side are quickly overcoming it.
The victory over los Herculanos a fortnight ago was particularly strong, leading striker Miku to tell Goal.com exclusively that he felt it was a “complete performance” that had led to Geta cruising. It was the Venezuelan who rounded the match off with eight minutes remaining, putting the cherry on the cake after Daniel Pareja and Manu del Moral had done the previous work.
Los Azulones have had it fairly easy in the opening weeks of the season, and with Barcelona, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla to come before the beginning of December, the hard work is just beginning.
TEAM NEWS
Atletico Madrid
Sergio Aguero remains absents for los Colchoneros, leading the Madrid club to rue their decision to rush the Argentine striker back for their recent clash against Barcelona.
Alvaro Dominguez is still three weeks away from fitness, but there is some good news as Diego Godin has started training normally following his strained knee.
Getafe
There’s largely been positive news for el Geta on the training ground this week. Rafa and Miguel Torres returned to training on Wednesday, following Javier Casquero, Jaime Gavilan and Javier Arizmendi, who joined up with the squad again on Tuesday.
Ibrahim Kas continues to build his fitness after suffering an injury in pre-season. Miguel Torres is expected to be absent until April due to his Achilles tendon woes.
Prediction
Getafe are beasts that should never lightly be dismissed, and though they certainly have a shot at shocking their more illustrious hosts, they will likely go down with a fight. Atleti have more quality in the final third of the field, and with the home defence reinforced there are now fewer holes to punch in it. Revenge for the two defeats inflicted upon them by los Azulones last term would be sweet.
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Getafe 
