Alvaro Morata gives Atletico victory in ten a side derby

Atletico Madrid opened their La Liga campaign with a win after defeating Getafe 1-0 in a local derby at the Wanda Metropolitano in La Liga. Alvaro Morata's header halfway through the first period was enough to separate the two teams. 

The game started very quietly and after the first five minutes, Atletico were the better team. Morata had the first chance of the game in the 13th minute after sprinting 35 yards, but Joao Felix was unable to get on the end of his pass. Eight minutes later, Saul found Trippier on the far side and his attempted square pass for Morata was misdirected and went to the goalkeeper. Two minutes later, Alvaro Morata scored the only goal of the game. 

Thomas spotted Trippier on the far side and the Englishman's cross was perfect for Morata to head home from less than 10 yards out. After the goal, Getafe came out of their shell and seven minutes before half-time, Getafe saw Jorge Molina sent off. He brought down Thomas from behind when trying to break down the attack, but he stepped on Thomas' heel. A new Spanish directive means all such fouls should be punished with a red card and despite the ref showing yellow initially, he upgraded it after a VAR review. 

Atletico's numerical advantage lasted just three minutes though. Lodi picked up two quck fire bookings. First for pulling back Arambarri and then he was harshly penalised for catching Damian Suarez in the face when jumping for the ball. In any case, half-time came and Atletico were one goal to the good. 

After the break, Getafe tried to get back into the game, but they were rather toothless and in fact, they nearly fell 2-0 behind. Joao Felix made a tremendous run beating 3-4 players and nutmegging Arambarri before Bruno brought down the Portuguese youngster. However, Alvaro Morata's penalty was well saved by David Soria and Bordalas' side were still in the game. 

Joao Felix then got injured in the 65th minute after he landed awkwardly when going for the ball with Arambarri. It did not seem too seriously, but he was substituted shortly afterwards and he received a great reception from the fans. 

Getafe continued to throw men forward, but Atletico dealt with every cross in with ease. However, substitute Angel Rodriguez was very close to stunning the home crowd four minutes from the end. Out of nothing, he fired a 25 yard strike which cannoned off the crossbar. Atletico's gameplan of settling for 1-0 almost backfired. 

That was not the end of their chances though. They got two free-kicks from the edge of the D, but they wasted them as Arambarri's free-kicks were blocked by Stefan Savic in the wall. Getafe pressed and pressed, but it was all too late and the final whistle sounded. 

Diego Simeone could not hide his delight at the final whistle by running down the tunnel and Atletico put in a very good performance in front of their home crowd. Getafe, despite being solid in defence, were very poor in attack and bar the Angel crossbar shot, they rarely threatened the Atletico goal.