Real Madrid beaten at home by Getafe for second successive loss

Madrid, 3 March — Real Madrid’s stuttering domestic form deepened on Sunday night as a thunderous first-half volley from Martin Satriano earned Getafe a 1-0 upset at the Bernabéu, handing the champions a second consecutive league defeat and leaving them four points adrift of Barcelona with 26 matches played.

Satriano’s moment of brilliance arrived four minutes before the interval, the Uruguayan latching onto a loose clearance and arrowing an unstoppable strike beyond Thibaut Courtois into the top-left corner. The goal proved enough to breach a Madrid side again shorn of Kylian Mbappé, who continues to nurse an external-ligament complaint in his left knee sustained at the end of 2025.

Vinicius Jr spurned the hosts’ clearest opening prior to the breakthrough, denied one-on-one by the out-rushing David Soria, while Getafe’s deep back line repelled wave after wave of white shirts thereafter.

Manager Álvaro Arbeloa acted early after the restart, making a triple substitution inside the first ten minutes of the half, with Trent Alexander-Arnold among those withdrawn. The changes injected urgency: Antonio Rüdiger glanced a near-post header inches wide, Rodrygo nodded a teasing cross beyond the far stick and Dani Carvajal arrived a split-second too late to convert.

Yet for all the territorial dominance, Soria remained largely untested, and frustration boiled over in stoppage time when teenage midfielder Franco Mastantuono received a straight red for abusive language directed at referee Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz. Moments later Getafe winger Adrián Liso joined him down the tunnel after a second caution for time-wasting.

The result means Arbeloa has lost four of his 12 fixtures at the helm, a spell complicated by the concurrent absences of Mbappé and England midfielder Jude Bellingham. Madrid will attempt to halt a three-match slide when they travel to face Celta Vigo on Friday, kick-off 20:00 GMT.