Muristek
Atletico Madrid's Mario Hermoso celebrates scoring their fourth goal against Getafe, Madrid February 12, 2022. — Reuters pic
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MADRID, Feb 13 — A last-minute goal from substitute Mario Hermoso gave Atletico Madrid victory in a seven-goal thriller as they beat Getafe 4-3 at home in La Liga on Saturday.
The helter-skelter game had six goals in the first-half, as well as a missed penalty, before Hermoso — who had been brought on after Atletico defender Felipe was dismissed in the second period — sent the Wanda Metropolitano crowd into raptures and his team into fourth place in the table.
“Hopefully this can spur us on and see us take a step forward and give us a boost ahead of what we’ve got on the horizon,” Hermoso told Movistar.
“I wish we knew why we were committing them (defensive mistakes), but there are lots of factors combining that before weren’t and we were better when we got ahead in games. We’ll carry on working hard and we are still the same squad that won the league last season.”
Luis Suarez won the first of three first-half penalties within the first 10 minutes after being felled by Getafe keeper David Soria, but saw his spot-kick saved.
Nevertheless, Atletico appeared in control as strikes from Angel Correa and Matheus Cunha put them 2-0 up after 27 minutes.
However, the reigning champions fell behind after a mad 15 minutes in which they conceded two penalties for handball.
Borja Mayoral halved the deficit before Cunha and Thomas Lemar were both deemed to have handled the ball inside the box.
Turkish forward Enes Unal netted twice from the spot to give the visitors an unlikely lead before Correa equalised in added-on time at the end of the first half, nodding in Lemar’s inviting cross.
Just before the hour mark Felipe was dismissed for a high foot on Mauro Arambarri, which led Diego Simeone to reshuffle his defence and bring on Hermoso, with the defender ultimately proving to be the hero at the other end. — Reuters