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Following a stressful two encounters against Atletico Madrid in a short period of time, with a league match in between, Real Madrid and its fans will surely be glad to see a mediocre Getafe next on the fixture list. Getafe sits in 15th place by virtue of goal differential with 17 points and coming off of back-to-back losses. In honesty, this isn't a very good team and Madrid should be able to dispatch them with some ease.
Getafe is led by the excellently-named Yoda, the French right winger has four goals to his name but has hit a bit of a dry spell just as Getafe's entire offense. Sammir can also pose a threat as he's recorded three assists so far, but aside from those two there really isn't a proven offensive contributor for this side. Getafe's defense is middle of the pack with 24 goals allowed but they do concede quite a few shots per game and with a squad as trigger happy as Madrid that could lead to a snowball effect if Los Blancos get on the scoreboard early. Getafe primarily plays in a 4-2-3-1 shape but they have shown their willingness to drop back into a 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1 so it'll be interesting to see how Carlo's men deal with this.
Madrid, on the other hand, have put together a pretty good domestic campaign, rebounding nicely against Espanyol following a tough loss to Valencia. While the Copa Del Rey results against Atleti are a cause for a bit of concern, league results have been quite good with Madrid sporting a robust +44 goal differential. Ancelotti feels confident in his usual 11 so I wouldn't expect any rotations. Luka Modric, Pepe and Arvalo Arbeloa are out due to injury while Fabio Coentrao will miss this oen thanks to a red card against Espanyol.
Madrid's players can't take their foot off the gas pedal in this one however, Getafe lost only 1-0 to Atleti, lost only 2-1 to Villarreal and managed a 0-0 draw with Barcelona. While they won't score much, they are capable of slowing down matches and dragging them out to the mud. A quick start for Madrid is imperative to put this one away quickly. Getafe did pick up nice win against Almeria in the Copa Del Rey, but they're stuck in a terrible bit of league form with their last Liga victory coming in October against Deportivo.
Projected lineup: Casillas; Marcelo, Ramos; Varane, Carvajal; Isco, Kroos, Rodriguez; Ronaldo, Bale; Benzema
Match prediction: 3-0 Real Madrid. Getafe will likely put up a decent fight as they have all season, but expect to see a motivated Madrid side looking to rebound quickly following their CDR exit.