Getafe are going to the Champions League.
They may have just missed out last season, but this isn’t the kind of team to choke twice in the same spot.
Against all odds they battled to the death last year to get into Europe’s top competition, failing only at the last moment.
Instead they had to make do with a place in the Europa League – which they are still in, by the way, having just knocked out Ajax when global sport was put on hold thanks to the coronavirus crisis.
Most other sides might have dropped off after falling at the last hurdle just a year ago. Not this one. They stood up and dusted themselves down, and now they’re right back in the mix a year on.
Eleven games remain, where anything can go right or wrong. It will be a strange situation for every team, but if there’s anyone we back to think on his feet and make the most of this kind of alien environment, it’s manager Jose Bordalas.
He’s made a career from finding “marginal gains” to win games, and there should be no doubt he’s been scheming day and night during this break to get the Azulones into Europe’s top competition for the first time.
