Real Madrid had a night to forget after losing 4-2 to Girona, with Taty Castellanos scoring all four goals on Tuesday night.
LaLiga
Result: Girona 4-2 Real Madrid
Date: 25 April 2023
Venue: Estadi Montilivi
Madrid made five changes following their win over Celta Vigo, as goalkeeper Andriy Lunin took the place of Thibaut Courtois, who was pulled out of the squad in the last minute, alongside recalls for Rodrygo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Dani Carvajal while Karim Benzema missed out due to injury.
Girona were full of energy in the early stages and they were rewarded on 12 minutes after Taty Castellanos powered them ahead with a header from a cross by Miguel Gutierrez.
Los Blancos were too eager to get forward and were caught on a counter-attack on 24 minutes as Castellanos doubled the lead for the home side and got his brace with a low strike past Lunin after racing clear on goal.
Carlo Ancelotti's charges had more urgency going forward and Vinicius Junior reduced the deficit 11 minutes before the interval with a header at the back post after a cross by Marco Asensio.
Girona were once again a threat on transitions and Yan Couto had a chance to restore their two-goal cushion on the stroke of half-time after Victor Tsygankov broke away and played a cut-back but Couto sliced his shot wide.
Michel's troops had a perfect start in the second stanza as Castellanos made it 3-1 within a minute from the restart and completed his hat-trick after he fired home first-time shot from a cross by Couto, who went through on goal on the wing.
Girona made life uncomfortable for Madrid with a high press and Castellanos incredibly made it 4-1 just after the hour-mark and scored his fourth goal with a header in the box after a deflected cross from a short corner.
The hosts had their tails up and were threatening to embarrass Madrid and with ten minutes to go, Ancelotti looked for a change of fortunes from the bench, as Mariano Diaz replaced Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez came on for Carvajal at right-back.
Vazquez gave Los Blancos a lifeline after he got the second goal back five minutes before time with a tap-in from a cut-back by Vinicius Junior on the byline.
However, it was too little too late, even for Madrid, as they remained 11 points behind table-toppers Barcelona in second place on the table, having played an extra game while Girona climbed up to ninth.
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