Real slip to first league defeat, Ronaldo sees red
Fabio Capello's Real Madrid suffered a double blow on Saturday when they slumped to their first league defeat of the season, 1-0 away to Getafe, and had striker Ronaldo sent off in the dying minutes.
Centre back Alexis gave Bernd Schuster's side a thoroughly deserved victory over the nine-times European champions when he headed in from a corner 15 minutes into the second half.
Real, who host arch-rivals Barcelona next Sunday, gave one of their worst performances. They looked shaky at the back, lightweight in midfield and short of ideas in attack.
Real's misery was compounded when Ronaldo was sent off just before the final whistle when he picked up a second yellow card for something he said to the referee and the Brazilian will now miss next week's clash against Barcelona. The defeat kept Real in fourth place in the table, two points behind leaders Barcelona, but with all their immediate rivals yet to play they could find themselves slipping further down the standings before the weekend is out.
Getafe, who have won two and drawn one of their three home matches against Real since making their debut in the top flight three seasons ago, move up to eighth place, a point behind their illustrious neighbours.