Taty Castellanos became the first player this century to score four past Real Madrid in LaLiga as Girona beat Los Blancos 4-2 at Montilivi on Tuesday to put Barcelona a step closer to the title.
Madrid went into the midweek round of fixtures 11 points adrift of their bitter rivals with eight games left, and this deserved defeat could see the gulf widen even further.
Castellanos netted twice inside 24 minutes to put Girona in charge, and although Vinicius Junior pulled one back just after the half-hour mark, Madrid largely looked blunt without the injured Karim Benzema.
Girona picked up where they left off at the start of the second half, Castellanos quickly completing his treble before adding a fourth that rendered Lucas Vazquez’s late goal irrelevant.
Michel’s side raced into an early lead.
Rodrigo Riquelme instigated a wonderful move with an incisive disguised ball into the box for Ivan Martin, who backheeled to Miguel Gutierrez, and his first-time cross was nodded home by Castellanos.
He got his second in the 24th minute, blasting home after nudging Eder Militao out of the way and racing on to a hopeful Arnau Martinez punt.
Vinicius nodded in Marco Asensio’s right-wing cross in at the back post to earn Madrid a lifeline.
But the two-goal deficit was restored 36 seconds after half-time as Castellanos guided Yan Couto’s delivery home.
Any remaining doubt about the outcome was then put to bed just past the hour, Castellanos heading a deflected cross past the unconvincing Andriy Lunin, with Vazquez’s Vinicius-assisted tap-in too little, too late.
Girona player ratings (4-1-4-1)
GK: Paulo Gazzaniga (6); RB: Arnau Martinez (8); CB: Santiago Bueno (7); CB: Juanpe (6); LB: Miguel Gutierrez (7); DM: Oriol Romeu (7); RM: Yan Couto (8); CM: Victor Tsygankov (7) CM: Ivan Martin (6); LM: Rodrigo Riquelme (6); ST: Valentin Castellanos (10).
Substitutes: Cristhian Stuani (6), Valery Fernandez (6)
Real Madrid player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Andriy Lunin – 2/10 – Offered little in the way of rebuttal against most of Girona’s efforts.
RB: Dani Carvajal – 3/10 – Underwhelming going forward and unconvincing at the other end.
CB: Eder Militao – 1/10 – An evening that Castellanos will always remember is one Militao may desperately try to forget.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 3/10 – Playing a different game to his defensive partner, almost impressive how perfectly out of sync he was with Militao.
LB: Nacho Fernandez – 3/10 – Repeatedly exposed as a makeshift full-back when forced to cover from than a handful of yards. Hooked after just seven second-half minutes.
CM: Fede Valverde – 4/10 – Much like the scraggly tufts of hair on his chin, Valverde’s passing was unkempt and ragged.
CM: Toni Kroos – 5/10 – Unerringly comfortable receiving the ball even under extreme pressure but less effective out of possession.
CM: Luka Modric – 5/10 – Peppered the game with sublime taps and touches but didn’t dominate proceedings.
RW: Marco Asensio – 6/10 – Delivered a lovely assist in the first half but faded after the break.
ST: Rodrygo – 5/10 – Missed a chance within the opening 40 seconds from close range and failed to find a better opening thereafter.
LW: Vinicius Junior – 7/10 – Up for a scrap from the opening whistle, Vinicius kept on plugging away until the final whistle.
Substitutes
Eduardo Camavinga (52′ for Nacho) – 4/10 – Added a bit more thrust than Nacho but not a great deal more solidity.
Aurelien Tchouameni (63′ for Modric) – 5/10
Lucas Vazquez (79′ for Carvajal) – 6/10 – Took his goal nicely with his weaker left foot.
Mariano Diaz (79′ for Rodrygo) – N/A
Manager
Carlo Ancelotti – 3/10 – Madrid were completely incapable of a coping with Girona’s waves of attacks yet the hosts always seemed to have plenty of bodies back to defend.
Player of the match – Taty Castellanos (Girona)
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