Atletico Madrid vs Getafe Preview: Classic Encounter, Key Battles, Team News & More

Atletico Madrid look to turn their indifferent start to the season around when they travel to face Getafe on Saturday.

Diego Simeone's men have won just one of their opening four games, against Rayo Vallecano. They drew two of the other matches, and lost to Celta Vigo, finding themselves ninth in the league table.

Their opponents Getafe have had a much more successful start to their La Liga season, sitting in fifth having won of their four matches, gone unbeaten in the last three and having not conceded a goal since their opening day defeat to Real Madrid.

Classic Encounter

Atletico Madrid 7-0 Getafe (La Liga, November 23, 2013)

A day to forget for Getafe supporters, the match started in relatively normal circumstances. It was a feisty affair, with five yellow cards dished out in the first 35 minutes as Atletico powered to a two goal lead.

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Raul Garcia opened the scoring before Alberto Lopo put through his own net. However, it wasn't until the 42nd minute that disaster struck - when right back Juan Valera picked up his second yellow card in eight minutes and was dismissed.

Getafe survived until halftime, but after the interval the floodgates opened. Garcia got another, while striker David Villa struck twice. Diego Costa and Adrian Lopez also got onto the scoresheet as Atletico ran away with the man advantage.

Key Battle

Bruno Gonzalez vs. Diego Costa

Getafe defender Bruno Gonzalez has been pivotal to his side's unbeaten run since the opening day loss to Real Madrid. The 28-year-old has helped lead his defence to three consecutive clean sheets.

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Up against Diego Costa and Antoine Griezmann, he will have his hands full but the Spaniard has proven so far this season to be a very competent defender. He has high interception and clearance rates per game, meaning he will likely be well-suited to cutting out Atletico passes that seek out the movement of Griezmann.

That means it might well come down to a physical battle to get an advantage over him, and who better to have tussle with powerful central defenders than Diego Costa.

Team News

Getafe will be without centre back Ignasi Miquel with a knee injury, while Markel Bergara has not yet returned from an arm injury. Talented young midfielder Mauro Arambarri missed Getafe's win over Sevilla last time out through injury but may still be fit to feature in this match.

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Left winger Vitolo remains out for Atletico with a knee problem, while Nikola Kalinic is still being kept on the sidelines due to an ankle injury. Colombian full back Santiago Arias suffered a fractured rib earlier in the month and is expected back soon, but not in time to face Getafe.

Centre back Stefan Savic remains a long-term absentee for Atletico after suffering a severe muscular contusion.

Predicted Lineup

Getafe: Soria; Antunes, Gonzalez, Djene, Suarez; Ndiaye, Maksimovic, Arambarri, Portillo; Rodriguez, Molina.

Atletico Madrid : Oblak; Juanfran, Gimenez, Godin, Hernandez; Correa, Saul, Rodri, Koke; Griezmann, Costa.

Prediction

Despite Atletico's poor start to the La Liga campaign, they won against Monaco in their opening Champions League group stage match in midweek and Simeone's men might just be able to use that confidence boost to push on.

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With Getafe's defence boasting as impressive of a clean sheet record as it does this season, it's likely to be a nervy and tense affair rather than a goal-fest but Atletico's world-class front two might just have what it takes to make the difference for the visitors.

Predicted Scoreline: Getafe 0-1 Atletico Madrid