Getafe and Celta draw at the Coliseum after Romero's second-half red card

Getafe went ahead, played more than twenty minutes with a man down, and ended up settling for a draw that, given how the match unfolded, might even have felt like a letdown for Celta de Vigo. 1-1 at the Estadio Coliseum, in a LaLiga match that had a bit of everything: a well-taken headed goal, an ejection that changed the story, and a Celta side that finished in control without being able to walk away with all three points.

The opening stretch belonged entirely to Getafe. In the 20th minute, Martin Satriano popped up inside the box to finish with his right foot into the top corner off a corner kick, making it 1-0. The goal came in a first half where Celta had already given a warning through Hugo Gonzalez and Miguel Roman, who tested David Soria's goal from outside the box without success. That slim lead held until the break.

The second half completely changed the complexion of the game. Almost as soon as play resumed, Celta started pushing down the flanks, and in the 56th minute the pressure paid off: Carl Starfelt headed home from the center of the box, meeting a Hugo Gonzalez cross off another corner, to make it 1-1. Ten minutes later, in the 66th, things got even tougher for Getafe: Zaid Romero picked up a second yellow card for a dangerous challenge, leaving the home side down a man for the rest of the match.

A dominant Celta unable to close it out

With the extra man, Celta took total control of possession and created clear chances to steal the entire match: Hugo Gonzalez tried a header, Borja Iglesias sent one over the bar off a Couhaib Driouech cross, and Miguel Roman had another go from outside the area. Getafe, pinned back, defended with what it had left and even came close to a second Getafe ejection that never came to pass: Carl Starfelt was booked for a foul on Enes Unal, while Marcos Alonso and Ramon Terrats also picked up yellow cards in a tense closing stretch. The score stayed put after that.

The numbers reflect fairly well what played out on the field, especially after the red card:

Celta nearly doubled Getafe's shot total and controlled the ball with ease, which makes sense given it played more than twenty minutes with a man advantage. Even so, in our estimate of xG generated in the match (an in-house calculation based on shot location, not an official figure) the gap was minimal: 1.402 for Celta against 1.352 for Getafe, numbers that line up reasonably well with a one-goal-apiece scoreline.

What the preview said and where things stand in the table

Before kickoff, our projection gave Getafe a 31% chance of winning, a 35% chance of a draw, and a 34% chance of a Celta win, with expected goals of 0.96 for the home side and 1.02 for the visitors. The draw ended up being, of the three outcomes, the one the forecast favored most, so the final result isn't especially surprising in light of those numbers, even if the path to get there (an early goal, a red card, and Celta's spirited comeback) was a lot bumpier than any percentage could capture.

In the standings, the draw leaves both sides close together: Getafe stays at 4 points in the tournament (1 win, 1 draw, 2 losses) and Celta at 3 (0 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses), with just 1 point separating the two clubs that shared the pitch at the Coliseum. Neither could land the decisive blow, and the result, with Getafe playing a man short for a large stretch, leaves the impression that the point tasted a little different to each side.