Getafe vs Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid head into the new La Liga season with high expcetations as they take a trip to the Coliseum Alfonso Perez to meet lowly Getafe.

Despite lamenting the poorest scoring ratio of the 17 sides to have secured La Liga survival last season, Getafe avoided defeat by the skin of their teeth. A single-point lead on 18th-placed Granada saved ‘El Geta,’ who moved on to capture the services of Borja Mayoral and Portu in the summer. The duo’s arrival is intended to help Quique Sánchez Flores’ team better last season’s abysmal tally of 33 league goals. But Getafe could not have hoped for a more challenging task at the start of the new season as they meet Atletico, whom they’ve failed to beat in 19 consecutive La Liga H2Hs (D2, L17). On top of that, Getafe drew a blank in 17 of those 19 clashes, suggesting their underwhelming scoring record is likely to go on.

On the other hand, Atletico Madrid’s defending La Liga campaign was a total disaster, as they finished in third, a whopping 15 points adrift of top-placed Real Madrid. Yet, the visitors’ nine-match unbeaten league streak away to Getafe (W7, D2) indicates Diego Simeone’s side could be off to a flying start. That wouldn’t be much of a surprise as ‘Los Rojiblancos’ haven’t lost a single La Liga opener across the last 12 seasons (W7, D5) since losing to Malaga in 2009. Adding to Atletico’s confidence, they’ve racked up five victories from their previous seven top-flight travels (L2) after winning just one of their nine beforehand (D3, L5). But Atletico cannot take anything for granted after failing to win seven of their eight La Liga games against last season’s bottom-four finishers (W1, D2, L5).