Atlético de Madrid must beat Getafe to stay within sniffing distance of Champions League

Following the latest setback suffered in the Vicente Calderon Stadium against Espanyol, Javier Aguirre’s team will play once again at home. The red-and-white team receives the visit of Getafe and is obligated to earn the three points if they want to stay within sniffing distance of the Champions League. Following the loss to Espanyol, Atleti lost their spot in Champions to a Zaragoza squad that is now fourth; for this reason, Javier Aguirre’s players need the three points against their neighbors from the south of Madrid. Getafe, at the hand of Schuster, have returned to the upper zone of the classification. Last year they took down Atletico in Vicente Calderon 0-1, thanks to a direct free-kick taken by current Atletico player, Mariano Pernia. Two seasons ago, Atleti and Getafe shared the points in a match that ended 2-2. The third occasion that they faced each other in a League match was in 2000/2001 in the Second Division and Atletico de Madrid came out on top by a score of 2-1. In these three league confrontations both teams have scored 4 goals.