The first time anyone noticed Jaime Mata he was standing there half-naked and even then no one really cared for long. He was a galáctico, sure, but not that kind of galáctico. A university student studying business and international commerce, he was also a pretty average striker at his local club Pegaso Galáctico in Spain’s Tercera División, which despite its name is a long way below the third division: there’s a Second; a Second B, 80 teams spread across four regional divisions; and then Third, with 366 teams in 18 provincial groups. Pegaso were in trouble, so Mata and his teammates posed for two photos: the first on the pitch with their shorts down, the second in the dressing room wearing nothing but pieces of paper to cover their modesty, lined up to spell out the club’s bank account.

If you can spell out numbers. Anyway, the plea was out there, the press called, attention drawn. But that didn’t solve the problem. It was 2009 and Mata was 19. He was lucky enough to still be living at home with his parents in Tres Cantos, north of Madrid, but Pegaso soon disappeared, unable to survive. And Mata did much the same. You had to travel to tiny grounds with imperfect pitches to find him, but now he might well soon be looking out at you as the camera pans across his face and the modern-day adaption of Handel’s Zadock the Priest booms out.

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There’s a reason those photos have been dug out again. Mata played for a while in Rayo Vallecano’s B team but he never thought he would make a living playing football. He played for Socuéllamos and for Móstoles, more Tercera football, and began preparing to be a customs officer. Lleida offered him the chance to play in the Second Division B and he thought he’d give it a go, away from homeand university, but he still never imagined he’d actually make a living of it. And even when he moved to Girona in the second division, he never imagined this. No one did.

Mata has changed clubs seven times and no one has ever paid a penny for him. When he scored 33 second division goals for Valladolid last season, it was the first time he had ever got more than 15 for anyone. He did not even set foot in primera until August, aged 29. And now, at 30, he’s a Spain international, scorer of 14 top-flight goals. He also could be on his way to the biggest club competition of them all. Yes, Getafe really might be about to qualify for the Champions League.

Getafe.

In the Champions League.

Just don’t tell Mata’s manager that. The Getafe coach José Bordalás has banned his players and himself from talking about Europe, but everyone else has been for some time – which is precisely what worries him – and on Thursday night it was there in everything they did. It was was cold at the Coliseum, and packed. In truth, lots of them weren’t there to watch Getafe – they were there to watch their opponents Real Madrid – but that is kind of the point and as the game went into the final 15 minutes, once Brahim Díaz had departed taking his catalogue of madnesses and gasps from the ground with him, it was Getafe they were drawn to.

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The score was 0-0 and Getafe were getting a little desperate. Not to hang on to what would, under normal circumstances, have been the kind of result to be proud of and deeply satisfied with – the kind of result Bordalás later insisted he was proud of, in fact – but to get a goal. For a while all four forwards were on and while Hugo Duro had just made way for Portillo, Getafe were going for this, flying into every tackle and flying forward too, fans roaring at them to run. It was Getafe who were denied by a superb double save and Getafe bombing about, supporters groaning when a five-on-four broke down and grumbling when the board went up with only two minutes on it.

And it was Getafe’s fans who grumbled when the final whistle went, and Getafe’s fans who swiftly followed that with a standing ovation.

ITV Football (@itvfootball) Highlights: Watch back the best of the action as @GetafeCF picked up a first @LaLiga point against @realmadrid since 2012 🇪🇸⚽📺https://t.co/gcEunA1OoE#GetafeRealMadrid #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/4hKLMlwheb

“It was an even game and they had chances too, but we leave with a bitter taste in our mouths because we did things to have won it,” Damián Suárez said. “We gave everything; we had to take risks,” Bordalás said. The fact that they chased a victory – against Madrid – said something about their ambition, and the fact that they were disappointed with the draw said even more about what they have done this season. It also said that while they won’t talk about it, Europe’s on their mind.

On Wednesday night Valencia had been beaten Atlético Madrid 3-2 and Sevilla had hammered Rayo 5-0 just before kick-off at the Coliseum on Thursday, but the 0-0 was still enough to leave Getafe fourth, ahead of Sevilla thanks to last Sunday’s 3-0 victory against them. With four games left, Getafe occupy the final Champions League place. “And they deserve that,” Zinedine Zidane said. Level on points, 55, they lead Sevilla on the head-to-head record, and Valencia, on 52, by three points. Next they go to Real Sociedad, who have nothing to play for, then face relegation-threatened Girona at home, before travelling to Barcelona, surely champions by then. They finish against Villarreal, who should be safe.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Getafe fans get ready to face Real Madrid at the Coliseum, a stadium that could well be hosting Champions League football next season. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Valencia’s run in is: Eibar (h), Huesca (a), Alavés (h), Valladolid (a). And Sevilla play Girona (a), Leganés (h), Atlético (a), Athletic (h).

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It really could happen: the club with a budget a 16th the size of Barcelona’s, with the third lowest average attendance in La Liga, the team that Bordalás picked up less than three years ago, at risk of relegation from Spain’s second division, could be on their way to the Champions League. Even if they don’t get there, they’ll take a European place – a colossal achievement.

On Thursday, Getafe sent on all four forwards chasing that dream: not one of them had cost them anything. The 19-year-old youth teamer Hugo Duro played alongside 37-year-old Jorge Molina. Duro is playing his first season in primera; it is two years now since Molina thought he’d played his last; it’s three since Ángel Rodríguez, 31, went to second-division Zaragoza, thinking he might never get back up; and Mata never thought he’d get there in the first place, but none of them are not about to stop there, not now.

“For me, just playing in tercera was already the business,” Mata says.

Talking points

• See if you can guess who provided the two vital assists as their teams took a big step towards safety at the bottom of the table? Yes, Iago Aspas did it again: he’s now scored or assisted in every game he has played since coming back from injury, his contribution so good it’s silly. As for Santi Cazorla, he delivered for Gerard Moreno to score a late winner for Villarreal.

• Things are looking a lot clearer in the relegation battle. A win for Huesca gave them a glimmer of hope in the opening game of the round, two absurdly good goals scored by Enric Gallego and Chimy Avila, who walloped in a mind-bendingly good volley direct from a corner. But while they’re off the bottom, much of that hope was taken away by what came next in the other games. Míchel’s lovely sidefoot, neatly set up by Enes Unal, gave Valladolid a huge 1-0 win over Girona, who are plummeting and seem to have lost any sense of direction. Levante hammered Betis. Villarreal’s win took them to 39 points. And Paco Jémez pretty much admitted that Rayo are gone.