Taty Castellanos scores four goals as Girona stun Real Madrid in La Liga

Taty Castellanos has become the first player to score four goals in a La Liga game against Real Madrid in this century as Catalan side Girona tore apart the defending champions 4-2.

Life works in mysterious ways. It was only two weeks ago that Taty Castellanos was forced to delete his social media accounts because of the insult he received from Girona fans after a horrendous one-on-one miss against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

However, the Argentine striker, on loan from Major League Soccer side New York City FC, more than made up for his blunders with an outrageous performance against defending La Liga champions Real Madrid. In a turnaround of fortune that he never saw coming, Castellanos made history and became the first person to score four goals against Real Madrid in a La Liga in this century.

“It’s a dream to be able to score against Madrid, one of the best teams in the world, but to score four times, I could never have imagined,” the 24-year-old Argentine said. “It was a dream night.”

Castellanos scored twice in each half and inspired Girona to claim a memorable 4-2 win over Real Madrid at the Estadio Montilivi.

He had also scored four times with New York in an MLS match against Real Salt Lake last year. But he had attracted negative headlines in Spain recently after scuffing a clear chance to score in Girona’s 0-0 draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou Stadium on April 10, which prompted a wave of insults against him online.

“The other day he had a miss against Barcelona and it looked like it was the end of the world for him,” Girona coach Michel said.

“But this is his first season in Europe, coming from a league that is very good but has nothing to do with Europe in terms of rhythm, tactics and situations, so he had to adapt to that and I think that he has been doing that perfectly.”

Castellanos took just an hour to register his four goals against Los Blancos and he scored all four goals from only five chances. The 24-year-old made Madrid’s Eder Militao look foolish at least on a couple of occasions and was unstoppable during the game.

He scored in the 12th, 24th, 46th and 62nd minutes and received a standing ovation from the Girona fans at Montilivi Stadium when he was substituted in the 72nd.

According to Spanish media, Castellanos is the first player to score a poker against Real Madrid in La Liga since Oviedo player Esteban Echevarría in 1947. The last player to score four times against Madrid is current Barcelona player Robert Lewandowski who did it while playing for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in 2013.

Girona moved to ninth place with the victory, its second in three matches, and practically guaranteed its place in the first division next season. Meanwhile, the loss has further hampered Real Madrid’s chances as Barcelona now have the opportunity to move 14 points clear at the top of the table.

“It was a tough night, we played at a very low level in all areas,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.