GETAFE: An early goal from Turkish striker Enes Unal shocked La Liga leaders Real Madrid as they lost 1-0 at Getafe on Sunday and ended an unbeaten run that had lasted 15 matches in all competitions.

With 46 points from 20 games, Real Madrid are still top but are not as comfortable as before. Sevilla are second with 38 points and two games in hand, and will visit second-from-bottom Cadiz on Monday.

Getafe, led by former Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores, extended their unbeaten streak in La Liga to six matches and are 16th in the standings, three points above the relegation zone. It was their first win over Real in a decade.

Unal scored with a low, powerful strike in the ninth minute after pressuring Real defender Eder Militao into giving up the ball inside the box at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

“Let’s be honest, we lost because of a rare individual mistake from Militao who is probably our best player this season,” Real midfielder Casemiro told reporters. “We tried really hard but their keeper was inspired. We were not in our best form today. In Real Madrid we need to play better; it’s not acceptable to lose any game this way.”

Real had almost 75% of possession but managed only four shots on target during the entire game.

Their previous loss came on Oct 3 when they fell 2-1 at Espanyol. Since then, they had won 13 and drawn two across all competitions.

“There is not much to say after a game like this,” said manager Carlo Ancelotti, who had steered Real to wins over Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Inter Milan during their unbeaten run. “It looked like our team took a few more days of vacation after Christmas.”

Ancelotti’s side were woefully out of sorts in their first outing of 2022 and, aside from a brief spell in the first half, struggled really even to threaten the Getafe goal.

They were unable to rally after a mistake by Militao, who tarnished his otherwise excellent season along with centre-back partner David Alaba, with the pair filling the void left by the exits of veterans Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane.

Toni Kroos appeared to have snuffed out Getafe’s attack when he recovered the ball and shuffled it over to Militao, but Unal pressured him hard and poked the ball clear before scoring.

“Sometimes as a striker, you just sense that there can be something there. Luckily it worked out,” Unal said about his goal.

Eden Hazard came on at half-time but again failed to shake his team into life while Karim Benzema was unusually quiet up front. Real certainly missed the penetration of Vinicius Junior, who was absent after testing positive for Covid-19.

Ancelotti’s mood was summed up in the second half when the deflated Italian on the bench slumped over and dropped his head after a Kroos free-kick drifted harmlessly out of play.

“To say we were still on holiday isn’t a criticism, it’s the same thing that I’ve said to the players,” Ancelotti said. “We accept responsibility, because the coach was maybe still on holiday as well. We are still top, so we look forward.”

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022