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Real Madrid succumbed to a shock 4-2 loss at the hands of Girona in La Liga on Tuesday, April 25, as Valentin Castellanos scored all four goals for the home side.
The Argentine was their chief tormentor on the night, bagging twice in each half to give the Blanquivermells all three points against the reigning Spanish champions.
Castellanos opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a header and made it 2-0 in the 24th minute. Vinicius Junior pulled a goal back for Real Madrid in the 34th minute, but more misery was to follow for them after the break.
Castellanos completed his hat-trick seconds after the restart with a right-footed strike from inside the penalty area. The 24-year-old scored his fourth of the night just after the hour mark as Los Blancos were caught napping in defense once more.
Lucas Vazquez made it 4-2 in the 85th minute to reduce the deficit, but the fixture was already over. Real Madrid are surely out of the title race now, 11 points behind league leaders Barcelona.
Here are the five talking points from the match:
#5 Valentin Castellanos, remember the name
Valentin Castellanos trounced Real Madrid's defense to score four goals in a memorable performance. On loan from MLS side New York City FC, the Argentine had scored only seven goals in 28 league appearances before this match. But he channeled his inner Robert Lewandowski and enjoyed a four-goal salvo against the reigning Spanish champions.
Castellanos struck twice in the opening stanza, a header from close range and a solo goal on the break, while adding two more after the break.
A relatively unknown quantity so far, Castellanos is a name that will now be etched into the history books forever after this epic individual performance against Real Madrid.
The Argentine joined Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Carlos Soler among others to score a La Liga hat-trick against Los Blancos. He became the first player to score four against them in the 21st century in the Spanish top-flight.
#4 Real Madrid's defense was comically inept
Without taking anything away from Castellanos' blistering exploits, Real Madrid's defending on all four occasions that he scored was shockingly inept.
Eder Militao, in particular, had a poor game as he failed to track him for his second and fourth goals. Castellanos got in behind the centre-back and outpaced him on the break to score his second of the night.
Meanwhile, Yan Couto made a caricature of Nacho by dribbling past him with the ease of a hot knife cutting through butter in the build-up to Girona's third goal.
Manchester City, who will face Los Blancos in the Champions League semi-finals, must be licking their lips right now.
#3 Andriy Lunin blows his chance to impress
Andriy Lunin rarely plays for Real Madrid, but when he finally had the chance to impress in Thibaut Courtois' absence, the Ukrainian blew it with a limp display in goal.
Although Real Madrid's defense was at fault for all the goals too, as mentioned earlier, Lunin should've done better for the first and fourth goals.
On both occasions, he jumped the right way but failed to make enough contact with the ball to impede its flight and ended the match with just one save.
Lunin's future in the Spanish capital could come under scrutiny after his disappointing performance against Girona.
#2 There's no stopping Vinicius Junior
Castellanos was obviously the star of the show at Estadi Montilivi, but Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior also registered a goal and an assist during the match.
After Girona raced to a 2-0 lead, the Brazilian pulled one back for the reigning champions with a sublime finish beyond Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
Vinicius then turned creator for Lucas Vasquez's goal late in the second half. He ran past a stream of red-and-white shirts to get to the byline before squaring the ball for Vazquez to tap home Real Madrid's second of the night.
Vinicius now has 21 goals and 18 assists from 47 games in all competitions, including 10 and nine respectively in La Liga. He has the most goal contributions in the squad after only Karim Benzema.
#1 La Liga title now Barcelona's to lose
With their sixth defeat of the season, Real Madrid remain in second place in the La Liga table with 65 points, 11 behind leaders Barcelona. The Catalonian giants will face Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, April 26.
A victory would put them 14 clear of Los Blancos with only seven games remaining in the season. They will need only eight points thereafter to seal their first La Liga title since 2019.
Either way, it's been another poor title defense for Real Madrid, who haven't retained their top-flight crown since winning it back-to-back in 2007 and 2008.
After starting their league campaign with six wins on the trot and going the first 12 games unbeaten, Carlo Ancelotti's side seemed on course for another La Liga title. However, it's all gone downhill since then, with the holders failing to win more than two games in a row since November 2022.
Barcelona made the most of their slip-ups, even winning the league El Clasico at home last month to widen the gap at the top. Barca's long wait to bring the La Liga title home is almost over.
