Taty Castellanos became the first player this century to score four goals against Real Madrid in LaLiga as Girona defeated Los Blancos 4-2 at Montilivi on Tuesday, putting Barcelona one step closer to the title.
Madrid entered the midweek round of fixtures 11 points behind their bitter rivals with eight games remaining, and this deserved setback might expand the gap even further.
Castellanos scored twice in the first 24 minutes to put Girona ahead, and while Vinicius Junior pulled one back shortly after the half-hour mark, Madrid mainly looked flat 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.