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Alex KirklandESPN FC
Eder Militao’s early header gave Real Madrid a gritty 1-0 win at Getafe on Saturday to to move them back up to the top of the LaLiga standings.
Real moved on to 22 points, three ahead of rivals Barcelona who have a game in hand and will host Celta Vigo on Sunday. Madrid’s win also sets up another high-stakes Clasico with Barca visiting next Sunday (10:15 am ET on ESPN+).
Getafe have lost two straight games and are 16th on seven points, two above the relegation zone.
JUMP TO: Player ratings | Best/worst performers | Highlights and notable moments | Post-match quotes | Key stats | Upcoming fixtures
Rapid Reaction
1. Madrid do enough in pre-Clasico test
Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Osasuna last Sunday — the first time they had dropped points in a hitherto flawless start to the season — meant a win against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez was needed to get the team back on track ahead of next week’s Clasico with Barcelona. Anything less could spark premature talk of a crisis.
Eder Militao’s early goal helped calm any nerves, and while Getafe had one or two chances to level it was always Madrid, with Vinicius Junior‘s overturned penalty and Rodrygo’s offside goal, who looked the more likely to score again.
Getafe have been awkward opponents for Madrid lately — Carlo Ancelotti’s team were beaten 1-0 here in January and held to a goalless draw in 2021 — and while Quique Sanchez Flores’ team had a slow start to the season, they’ve improved considerably in the last month, winning back-to-back games before the international break.
Madrid did well here to move the ball quickly, creating spaces in Getafe’s five-man defence, while dealing with the counter-attacking threat of Borja Mayoral and Enes Unal. A narrow 1-0 win was enough to put Madrid back on top of the table, with the pressure on Barca not to slip up in their game with Celta Vigo on Sunday, and all to play for in the Clasico next week.
2. Militao’s goal the prelude to an outstanding display
Lucas Vazquez, David Alaba, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Vinicius, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo, Antonio Rudiger, and now Militao. The Brazilian’s match-winning, third-minute header made it nine different players who have scored for Real Madrid in LaLiga so far this season, with just eight games played. For a team that is supposed to be over-reliant on Benzema, that’s a lot of goalscoring variety.
Here, Militao’s quick, intelligent movement saw him lose his marker and Modric’s delivery from the corner did the rest. The arrival of Rudiger in the summer saw Militao’s position in the team come under threat. Games like this, though, show why Ancelotti has been so keen to keep the faith in last year’s partnership of him and Alaba.
And it wasn’t just the goal. This was the kind of performance from Militao that makes him look like the complete defender: as quick as any centre-back around, stronger than most, and more than comfortable to play the ball out from the back.
Of course, the issue with Militao is that this isn’t always the case. He lacks consistency and concentration, meaning a sudden, clamorous error can never be entirely ruled out. But he’s still just 24, with his best years as a centre-back yet to come, and plenty of time to improve in that department.
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3. Modric remains as crucial as ever
Casemiro has gone and Toni Kroos was an unused substitute here but Luka Modric, at the age of 37, is still as important as ever to this Real Madrid midfield. He started here alongside youngsters Aurelien Tchouameni — who has impressed since joining this summer — and Eduardo Camavinga, who is still working on imposing himself on games from the start as he does from the bench.
It was Modric’s corner which allowed Militao to score the only goal of the game, and it was otherwise a typical, all-action performance from the Croatian. He was everywhere — only Dani Carvajal had more touches of the ball (with 117 to Modric’s 110) and more recoveries (9 to Modric’s 8).
As much as this Madrid team is in the middle of a process of renewal, with young players like Vinicius, Rodrygo and Valverde taking an ever more prominent role, they still haven’t moved on from Modric.
Player ratings
Real Madrid: Andriy Lunin 7; Dani Carvajal 7, Eder Militao 9, Antonio Rudiger 7, David Alaba 7; Aurelien Tchouameni 7, Eduardo Camavinga 6, Luka Modric 8; Federico Valverde 7, Vinicius Junior 8, Rodrygo Goes 7.
Subs: Marco Asensio 6, Nacho Fernandez 6, Mariano Diaz 6.
Getafe: David Soria 6; Damian Suarez 6, Domingos Duarte 6, Stefan Mitrovic 6, Djene Dakonam 5, Fabricio Angileri 6; Carles Alena 6, Angel Angobia 6, Luis Milla 7; Borja Mayoral 5, Enes Unal 6.
Subs: Portu 6, Munir El Haddadi 6, Jordan Amavi 6, Jaime Seoane 6, Juanmi Latasa 6.
Best and worst performers
BEST: Eder Militao, Real Madrid.
Scored the opening goal and didn’t put a foot wrong in defence.
WORST: Borja Mayoral, Getafe.
Couldn’t connect with an early chance to equalise and struggled after that against his former club.
Highlights and notable moments
Any early Eder special was all Madrid needed to nab the three points.
After the match: What the players and managers said
Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal on the win: “Our objective was the three points and we got them. We go to bed tonight as leaders, to put a bit of pressure on Barcelona.”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti: “The Clasico is still far off, we have another game first [in Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday]. I’ve rested some players like Benzema and [Ferland] Mendy. On Tuesday I’ll rotate a bit more.”
“Sometimes there are games where you’re very comfortable with the ball, we scored early, and we weren’t in a hurry up front, we didn’t force it, we tried to manage the ball and control it.”
Key stats (provided by ESPN Stats & Information)
– A well-timed cleansheet ahead of the big test vs. Barcelona, as Real Madrid did not concede a goal in a LaLiga match for the first time this season (eight matches).
– Luka Modric had his first goal contribution in all competitions since scoring on Sept. 6.
Up next
Real Madrid: Carlo Ancelotti’s side next travel to Warsaw to take on Shakhtar Donetsk in Champions League action on Tuesday. Then its Clasico time as Barcelona visit the Bernabeu on Sunday (10:15 am ET on ESPN+).
Getafe: A trip to Rayo Vallecano next Friday.