Getafe and Villarreal play out bore-fest despite early red card

Getafe vs Villarreal | X/@VillarrealCFEn

Getafe and Villarreal play out bore-fest despite early red card

Ayoola Kelechi 15:20 - 30.09.2023

Despite an early red card for Villarreal, Getafe were unable to penetrate the Yellow Submarines' defence in a stale draw

LaLiga sides Getafe and Villarreal played out sleep-inducing 0-0 draw to kick off the league’s today as neither side was able to leave first gear for the 90-minute duration of the match. 

Neither side was able to break the deadlock, although Getafe seemed most likely due to Villarreal playing a large portion of the match with 10 men. 

Alex Baena’s sending-off before the half-hour mark was the most notable incident in the draw, as both teams eventually settled for a point each. 

How it happened

The home side entered the match on the back of a run of only two wins in five games but were still better off than visitors Villarreal, who had only won one game in their last five. 

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Despite an injury to regular forward Enes Unal, Getafe decided to keep Manchester United loanee Mason Greenwood on the bench, choosing a front two of Borja Mayoral and Jaime Mata, despite the English forward providing an assist in their last match against Athletic Club. 

Getafe were on the front foot for most of the game and could have taken an early lead but for Villarreal goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen pulling out a decent save from Mata’s early effort. 

The hosts were given a helping hand by the referee midway through the first half, when Villarreal midfielder Alex Baena was shown a straight red card after he appeared to elbow a Getafe defender in the chest following a tangle in the box.

Reduced to 10 men, Villarreal were barely able to muster a threat in the first half, making only one attempt at goal, which came in the first minute through a blocked Dani Parejo shot. 

The second half did not bode much better for the Yellow Submarines, who were only able to add two more shots on goal in the second half, with neither of them being on target. 

Getafe, on the other hand, fired 22 shots on goal, with nine of them on target and seven from inside their opponents’ box, but were ultimately unable to find the back of the net. 

In the end, Villarreal had Jorgensen in goal to thank for helping them hold back the Getafe onslaught as they won an unlikely and probably undeserved point in Madrid.

The draw leaves Getafe in 10th position on nine points, while Villarreal are 12th with eight points in LaLiga so far. 

Related content