Atlético Madrid 4-1 Getafe: Two Lineups, Four Goals

Atlético Madrid beat Getafe 4-1 in a closed preseason training match at Cerro del Espino in Majadahonda on Wednesday, July 29. Ademola Lookman scored twice before halftime, while Arnau Ortiz and Obed Vargas added the second-half goals after Diego Simeone changed his entire lineup.

Simeone used 22 different players across the two halves. That split gave the match a useful shape. The first team leaned on Lookman’s experience in attack. The second returned with only three established first-team players and eight academy footballers, yet extended a 2-1 lead rather than merely protecting it.

Lookman made his experience count

Lookman opened the scoring inside the first six minutes after Rodrigo Mendoza struck the post from outside the area. The ball came back into a crowded penalty box, and Lookman reacted first.

The second goal arrived in the 35th minute and asked for a different finish. Carlos Martín advanced on the right and curled the ball towards the far side, where Lookman completed the move for 2-0. Atlético’s official account of the 4-1 victory confirms the result and the four scorers.

Getafe replied before the interval through 17-year-old midfielder Álvaro Gutierrez. His first effort struck the crossbar, Jan Oblak stopped the next attempt in the sequence, and Gutierrez finished when the ball returned with the goalkeeper already committed.

Lookman’s two goals came from different habits. The first depended on anticipation around a rebound. The second came from arriving in the right space as a wide attack developed. That distinction matters because Atlético signed him to operate either behind the striker or from either wing.

The club’s transfer announcement records 55 goals and 27 assists in 137 appearances for Atalanta before his move to Madrid. In a first-half attack that also included Mendoza and Miguel Cubo, Lookman was the forward with the longest senior record. He played like it.

Halftime created a separate test

Atlético went into the break leading 2-1, then Simeone replaced all 11 players. José María Giménez, Johnny Cardoso and Vargas were the only members of the second-half side drawn from the established first-team group. The other eight came through the club’s academy structure.

That was not a normal sequence of scattered preseason substitutions. One group played the first half. A substantially younger group inherited a one-goal lead and played the second.

Ortiz widened the advantage soon after the restart. Giménez played forward, Ortiz controlled the pass, moved around David Soria and finished for 3-1. The move was short, direct and technically clean.

The identity of the scorer gave the goal added weight. Atlético’s preseason academy guide listed Ortiz as the Atlético Madrileño top scorer, aged 24, but still without an official first-team appearance before this summer.

At 24, Ortiz is older than most players described as academy prospects. His preseason is therefore less about introducing his name and more about showing whether his production for the reserve side can survive against senior opponents. Rounding Soria did not settle that question, but it was a convincing answer to the first clear chance he received.

Vargas closed the match and continued a longer journey

Vargas won Atlético’s late penalty and took it himself, sending Soria the wrong way to complete the scoring. Social posts described it as his first Atlético goal, but no official club record confirms that milestone. The verified claim is simpler: Vargas won and converted the penalty that made it 4-1.

The player’s route to that moment is more substantial than the disputed label. Vargas was born in Anchorage, Alaska, joined Seattle’s academy at 14 and progressed through Tacoma Defiance before becoming a first-team midfielder. Seattle’s official transfer record credits him with 130 appearances, eight goals and 16 assists in all competitions before his February 2026 move.

Atlético was also the club he followed as a child. After signing, Vargas said, “Coming to Atlético de Madrid is a dream come true.”

The penalty did not create that story. It placed Vargas on the scoresheet in Atlético’s first test of the new summer, five months after he moved from the club he had grown up with professionally to the one he had grown up watching.

The score revealed roles, not a settled team

A closed training match in heavy heat cannot establish Atlético’s league lineup. Several internationals were still on vacation after the World Cup, Getafe also used young players, and both teams had hydration breaks that interrupted the rhythm.

The evidence from Majadahonda is limited to the actions Atlético actually completed.

Lookman converted two different chances while leading the first attack. Mendoza’s shot created the opener. Carlos Martín supplied the second. Morten Hjulmand started beside Koke in midfield. Ortiz turned a direct pass into a composed one-on-one finish. Vargas accepted responsibility for the penalty he had earned.

Those are observable actions, not predictions about August. Simeone still has to judge them against stronger opponents, with returning internationals competing for places and the physical load increasing.

The 4-1 result did, however, show that Atlético’s scoring did not disappear when the entire first lineup left the pitch. The senior forward set the standard before halftime. Two players fighting for a larger role answered after it.

Manchester United provide the next test

Atlético next face Manchester United on Saturday, August 1, at 3 p.m. local time. The game will be played at Strawberry Arena in Solna, just north of Stockholm, a location confirmed by both the fixture listing and the venue’s event page.

The club’s official calendar then lists Manchester City in Seoul on August 9 and Marseille at the Vélodrome on August 14. Atlético open their LaLiga season at home to Málaga on August 19.

The next comparison arrives in Solna. Lookman has already shown what Atlético can expect from its most experienced available attacker. Ortiz and Vargas have given Simeone specific reasons to look at them again.