Getafe 1-0 Real Madrid: Unal strike stuns Ancelotti´s LaLiga leaders

Real Madrid’s 11-game unbeaten run in LaLiga came to a surprising end as Enes Unal’s strike gave Getafe a shock 1-0 win over the leaders.

It meant Quique Sanchez Flores got the better of Carlo Ancelotti, with Madrid’s head coach seeing his team deliver a flat performance in their first game of the new year.

Madrid had won their last five away LaLiga games, scoring at least two goals in each, but they encountered a hard-grafting Getafe side who stretched their own undefeated streak to six games.

Unal took advantage of a defensive aberration from Eder Militao to strike early in the game, with Madrid frustrated in their efforts to draw level.

Militao was woefully caught out in the ninth minute, after collecting the ball from Toni Kroos on the edge of the penalty area. He stuttered rather than show his usual conviction and Unal exposed the uncertainty, making a careful tackle before firing past Thibaut Courtois, low into the left corner.

2 – Goal scored by Getafe’s Enes Ünal at 8:23 is the second earliest of 20 conceded by Real Madrid in all competitions this season (after Santi Mina’s in Real Madrid 5-2 Celta de Vigo (3:19) on September 2021). Surprise. pic.twitter.com/EcCcFwPmXJ

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 2, 2022

Madrid playmaker Luka Modric saw a long-range strike tipped wide and went closer in the 17th minute when he beat David Soria but his 15-yard strike rattled away off the crossbar.

Carlo Ancelotti saw his Madrid team struggle to break down the home defence and was rankled by the officiating of referee Mario Melero Lopez, who might reasonably have booked former Barcelona midfielder Carles Alena.

Alena had committed five fouls by half-time, but it was Ancelotti who picked up a yellow card as he showed frustration on the touchline.

Modric was thwarted by Soria again early in the second half, a tame shot easily gathered, with Madrid struggling to pose a serious threat. Karim Benzema had been quiet but teamed up neatly with substitute Eden Hazard and had a shot from 15 yards headed over the bar by Jorge Cuenca.

Marcelo had his shirt tugged in the penalty area but spot-kick appeals were dismissed, while Casemiro had a thumping 20-yard strike turned wide by the excellent Soria.

What does it mean? Madrid give rivals a glimmer of hope

Ancelotti has turned Madrid into a winning machine this season, so results like this have become seriously unexpected. They had lost just one of their opening 19 games this season, opening up an eight-point lead, but this result means Sevilla, who sit second, now have two games in hand and could in theory close to just two points behind the front-runners. For Sanchez Flores, this was a day to savour, having lost 10 of his previous 11 LaLiga games as a manager against Madrid.

Getafe show spirit to hang on

Unal’s goal was a team-high sixth of this league campaign, yet Getafe did well to hang on from that point. Madrid had won three of the four previous LaLiga games this season when they had conceded the opening goal, and they had 73.7 per cent of possession here, leading the shot count 14-6, but a gallant Getafe just about held firm, ending a run of 13 games without a win against the capital giants.

End of the road streak

The last time Madrid reached six wins in a row on their travel in this competition was back in October 2017, so perhaps this result had been coming. Toni Kroos, Modric and Benzema each had three goal attempts, but Soria was only made to work with two of those efforts from the trio. Despite eight minutes of stoppage time, there was no way through

What’s next?

Madrid travel to face Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, keen to avoid a repeat of the humiliating defeat they experienced against the same minnows last season. Getafe are next in action in LaLiga next Sunday, when they tackle Sevilla.