It was the 20th straight match without a loss against Getafe, which hadn’t scored since its last victory against Atletico in 2011.
Luis Suarez needed a little more than 10 minutes to make up for his slow start to the season.
Suarez scored two late goals to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win at Getafe in the Spanish league on Tuesday, ending the team’s two-match winless streak and extending a decade-long unbeaten run against its Madrid rival.
After scoring only once in his first six matches this season, Suarez got the equalizer in the 78th minute and the winner in the 90th to boost Atletico after two 0-0 draws.
“A comeback win like this, with the team trailing late, will help boost the team’s morale,” Suarez said.
“We know we have to fix a few things. We have to keep improving.”
It was the 20th straight match without a loss against Getafe, which hadn’t scored since its last victory against Atletico in 2011.
Getafe played with 10 men from the 74th because of a red card shown to midfielder Carles Alena. It had opened the scoring with a header by Stefan Mitrovic late in the first half for his first goal since joining the club this season.
The victory moved Atletico back to the top of the league with 14 points, one more than Real Madrid which hosts promoted Mallorca on Wednesday.
The defending champions were coming off consecutive scoreless draws at home against Porto in the Champions League and against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league.
Second-to-last Getafe remained one of the two teams yet to earn points in the league this season, along with Alaves.
“It’s frustrating to leave without any reward after we played a great match,” Getafe defender Jorge Cuenca said.
The hosts allowed Atletico to take full control of the match after Alena was sent off for a foul from behind on Atletico forward Matheus Cunha.
After missing a few good chances and hitting the crossbar, Suarez evened the match four minutes after the red card for Alena with a left-footed shot from inside the area. He netted the winner with a close-range header for his third goal of the season. The Uruguay striker, who joined from Barcelona, was Atletico’s top scorer in its title-winning campaign last season.
Antoine Griezmann started for Atletico after being on the bench against Porto last week. He was replaced by Cunha in the 67th after another lackluster performance.
Atletico was without Portugal forward Joao Felix. He was handed a two-match suspension after earning a red card- a yellow for a foul and a red for then complaining to the referee- in the draw against Bilbao on Saturday.
Mexican forward Jose Juan Macias made his first league start for Getafe.
FALCAO’S WINNER
Newly signed forward Radamel Falcao scored his second goal of the season with a header in the sixth minute of stoppage time to give Rayo Vallecano a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao.
Falcao had scored his first goal after coming off the bench in his debut with Rayo last Saturday.
The 35-year-old Colombia veteran signed with Rayo as a free agent.
CELTA’S FIRST WIN
Celta Vigo won 2-0 at Levante for its first victory of the season with goals from Iago Aspas in the 66th and Brais Mendez in the 85th.
Roger Marti missed a 71st-minute penalty kick for Levante, which has lost twice and drawn four games. (AP)
Source: Read Full Article