Atletico Madrid played out a dramatic win over Getafe on Saturday, with Diego Simeone paying tribute to his team’s heart.
Atletico’s 4-3 LaLiga victory over Getafe overcame many challenges.
Diego Simeone paid tribute to his Atletico Madrid players.
The two teams played out an especially remarkable first half, which included six goals and a missed penalty by Luis Suarez.
Atletico was initially 2-0 up but then found themselves 3-2 down, with Borja Mayoral and a pair of Enes Unal penalties doing the damage.
Angel Correa got his second of the day just before the break to level the score.
After a high and wild challenge on Mauro Arambarri, Felipe was off, further damaging Atletico.
The drama did not end there, however. Just when Atletico looked happy to play out for a draw, three substitutes linked up.
Rodrigo De Paul’s deep free-kick was headed back across goal by Joao Felix, and Mario Hermoso was on hand to acrobatically turn in at the second time of asking.
Simeone struggled to make sense of the epic encounter but praised Atletico’s response.
“It’s difficult to explain a match that had several mini-matches in it,” he told reporters.
“If you value how many times they’ve had a shot on goal, they are very few.
“There are instances when overcoming adversity is necessary, and once again those moments appeared: the missed penalty, going from 2-0 up to 3-2 down, and then the red card gave us a difficult match.
“Once again, the hearts of the boys responded particularly. De Paul, [Hector] Herrera, Joao, and those came on. did so with a passion that was what we needed.”
But while the dramatic nature of such a victory led to joyous scenes and took them back up to fourth.
The match once again highlighted Atletico’s defensive issues.
Atletico conceded two penalties for handball; Mayoral reacted quicker than the defence for his goal.
And Felipe’s red card directly resulted from Stefan Savic’s heavy touch just inside his half.
It was the sixth successive game in which Atletico have conceded at least twice.
At the same time, the three concessions took their overall LaLiga tally for 2021-22 to 33.
That surpassed their previous worst record for an entire season under Simeone (31 in 2012-13).
Yet Simeone did not seem overly concerned – at least not in the context of this match.
Simeone said:
“The first goal is a good play for them, but in the two subsequent penalties.
“There were no threatening plays. So if you’re looking for a save from Oblak, there wasn’t any.
“Hopefully, we are already passing this situation of adversity.”
Atletico’s performance in the last three games have been entertaining, but they need to improve their defence.
Likewise, for more football news like this, click here.
