Garcia: Getafe threw the tie

Luis Garcia has questioned his Getafe players’ concentration in the closing stages of their Cup defeat at Atletico Madrid, saying they ‘threw the tie’.

Getafe fell to a 3-0 defeat in the first leg of their Last 16 clash with their city rivals, with two strikes coming in the final 10 minutes of play, much to their Coach’s ire.

“We threw the tie in the final 15 minutes. I do not understand what we have done at the end of the game,” Garcia fumed at full-time.

“This is not a League game. It seems that we played at the end to concede the second and above all the third goal.”

Garcia continued to dig at his players for allowing Atletico to net the third goal, which he sees as potentially decisive over the two legs.

“The second leg remains and we need to go back to our place and see if we cannot still win. For me, the end of this match has been disappointing.

“The tie is not decided, but it is difficult, because of us. If in the end they won 1-0, then we could win 1-0, even at 2-0 here we could have won 2-0 at ours.

“To concede the third in a League match means very little, but when you reach the end of a Cup game, you have to learn to play.

“You may have messed up to make it 2-0, but there remains the possibility to overcome that in the second leg. The third goal conceded is because of us and it has almost cost us the tie.”

Even so, the tactician made clear that the issue was not down to the player’s attitude.

“Getafe’s players have a very good attitude. We have known that we had to try to play to the end, and we talked about that beforehand.”

Tags Luis Garcia
La Liga - Club News