Getafe vs. Real Madrid: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
Losses were piling up, point after point was being squandered, and a freefall had set in: It had been coming, and on Monday it arrived.
After a run of 10 defeats in 12 games and just two points taken from 36, Getafe at the beginning of the week sacked manager Fran Escriba, the man who had looked like a shrewd appointment at the beginning of the season but who had watched everything unravel since January.
For Escriba and Getafe, the recent numbers had been dire. Catastrophic, even: three months, zero wins, four goals scored, 28 goals against, zero clean sheets and, as of Saturday morning, 20th place in the table.
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Next up: Real Madrid.
On Saturday, Getafe will begrudgingly host welcome Zinedine Zidane's men to the Coliseum Alfonso Perez with their situation growing desperate and their top-flight survival severely endangered. On Friday, Levante's 2-1 victory over Espanyol plunged Getafe to the foot of the table, and new manager Juan Esnaider has six games to essentially pull off what Jose Ramon Sandoval did in the dying stages of last season when taking over at Granada.
"It was very easy to accept this challenge, beyond the difficulty we're in. I'm convinced I can bring enough so that the season ends well," said Esnaider this week, per AS (h/t Football Espana). "I'm not a kamikaze and I wouldn't have accepted if I didn't believe we could stay up."
Esnaider might have raised a few eyebrows when he added "I'd love to be here all my life"—trust us, Juan, no one wants to be at Getafe their whole life—but still being there next month would be a good start. So would pinching a point from Madrid, though many might say "good luck with that."
On the back of six straight wins in La Liga, Zidane and Co. arrive at Saturday's clash in hot form and suddenly in a title race. For at least two months, the league had looked gone, buried, but a Barcelona stumble (one point from nine) has changed things.
"¡Hay Liga!" or "there is a league," celebrated AS when the Catalans fell to Real Sociedad last weekend.
Consequently, Madrid's trip to Getafe all of a sudden looks huge: Win, and the gap to Barcelona is just one point with Luis Enrique's men facing Valencia on Sunday night; trip up, and any momentum is extinguished. Surely they can't trip up, though, can they?
It's hard to see it, certainly, but Zidane isn't taking any chances, as Alvaro de la Rosa of AS reported.
"I don't like tomorrow's game one bit," said the Frenchman on Friday, "because the general opinion is that we will win easily; we are playing a side who are playing for their lives, they've just changed their coach, and it's going to be a very complicated game."
Even when you understood what he meant, you had to smirk when Zidane added "when I say I don't like it, I am referring to the atmosphere." Getafe? Atmosphere? Yet even Zidane will recognise that the assumption of a comfortable Madrid victory has evidence supporting it.
The last six meetings between these sides: six Madrid wins and an aggregate score of 25-5.
Match Details
Date: Saturday, April 16
Time: 3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. EDT/4 p.m. local
Venue: Coliseum Alfonso Perez, Getafe, Madrid
TV Info: Sky Sports (UK—delayed broadcast), beIN Sports (U.S.)
Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.)
Form Lines
| L: 0-2 vs. Villarreal | W: 3-0 vs. Wolfsburg |
| L: 0-2 vs. Rayo Vallecano | W: 4-0 vs. Eibar |
| D: 1-1 vs. Eibar | L: 0-2 vs. Wolfsburg |
| L: 0-6 vs. Barcelona | W: 2-1 vs. Barcelona |
| D: 1-1 vs. Sevilla | W: 4-0 vs. Sevilla |
| L: 0-4 vs. Las Palmas | W: 2-1 vs. Las Palmas |
Team News
For Getafe, Santiago Vergini returns from suspension and should partner Cala in the middle of the back four. On the right, Damian Suarez will keep his position, while Roberto Lago is in line to return at left-back.
In midfield, Alvaro Medran is both suspended and ineligible against his parent club, meaning Juan Rodriguez could slot in alongside Mehdi Lacen, with Victor Rodriguez ahead of them.
In attack, meanwhile, Pablo Sarabia and Pedro Leon are expected to occupy the wide berths, while Alvaro Vazquez should start up front.
For Real Madrid, expect to see Zidane make two or three changes for this one, considering Los Blancos face high-flying Villarreal at the Bernabeu as soon as Wednesday.
As a result, Raphael Varane is in line to make a return to the starting XI, with the French centre-back possibly set to partner Sergio Ramos, who's available once more after serving a one-game suspension in the league against Eibar. At right-back, Dani Carvajal will continue with Danilo suspended for this one, while Nacho could come in at left-back to give Marcelo a rest.
In midfield, it wouldn't be a surprise to see James Rodriguez start in order to give a rest to Toni Kroos or Luka Modric (Isco could see playing time, too), but up front, no changes are expected given that the BBC almost always start when fit and available.
Predicted Lineups
In the Spotlight
He needs four goals to make it 50 for a sixth straight season.
"Cristiano Ronaldo has no limits," said El Pais:
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Getafe: 12-1
Draw: 11-2
Real Madrid: 2-9
