Atletico Madrid lost more ground on Real Madrid in the race for second place in La Liga as they held on for a 0-0 draw at Getafe on Sunday despite being reduced to nine men.
The visitors had the better of the chances in the first-half, but had to ride their luck in the second as Getafe were denied a strong claim for a penalty before Mario Suarez was sent-off for a second yellow card.
Thibaut Courtois then had to make a fine save from Borja Fernandez with six minutes remaining before Diego Godin was also given his marching orders for a second bookable offence in stoppage time.
Real's 5-1 win over Mallorca on Saturday had extended their lead over their city rivals to four points, but with Adrian replacing the injured Arda Turan, Atletico started brightly.
Radamel Falcao uncharacteristically miscued when presented with a clear sight of goal by Diego Costa just six minutes in and Adrian should also have done better when he pulled his shot wide seven minutes later.
However, the game then descended into a lull and only came back to life at the beginning of the second-half.
Abdel Barrada forced Courtois into a good low save four minutes after the restart before, at the other end, Filipe Luis also saw a fierce strike turned behind by Jordi Codina.
Codina got down well at his near post to deny Falcao opening the scoring with a low drive moments later, but Atletico were then extremely lucky not to concede a penalty.
Referee Carlos Delgado Ferreiro somehow judged that Godin's trip on Adrian Colunga took place just outside the box despite contact clearly being made well inside the area and Barrada sent the resulting free-kick inches wide.
Diego Simeone's men weren't so lucky minutes later though as Suarez saw a harsh second yellow for handball.
However, despite the man advantage, Getafe struggled to create chances and their best effort came when Borja let fly from 25 yards, but Courtois showed strong hands to parry the ball to safety.
And a scrappy game was summed up when Godin was shown also shown a second yellow card for catching Alvaro Vasquez as they contested a high ball.
Source: AFP
