Valentín Taty Castellanos will hardly forget the afternoon of April 25. The Argentinian striker was able to score, all by himself, a goal poker against Real Madrid to give a resounding victory to a Girona that incidentally closed virtually the permanence, one more year, in the First Division.
Castellanos, who had just completed a game suspension in Valladolid and who broke down in tears after the match against Barça for having forgiven the winning goal at the Camp Nou, yesterday redeemed himself with two goals in the first half and two more in the second half. second. Only Vinícius tried to print character in Madrid and, controversies aside, he scored the first goal and gave the second to Lucas Vázquez when the game was sentenced.
And that Carlo Ancelotti lined up almost the best possible eleven from among all those who had boarded the plane, but not even like that. Especially sensitive was the loss of goalkeeper Courtois, who stayed in Madrid at the last minute due to gastroenteritis. His team missed him, although Lunin cannot be blamed for any of the goals he conceded either. Yes, it was Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Asensio or Vinícius, and none of them was saved from the shipwreck in Montilivi despite having come out better in the game.
In fact, after 30 seconds, Vinícius could have given the visitors an advantage thanks to a spur shot that Juanpe was able to send off a corner. And just three minutes later it was Gazzaniga who had to stretch to deflect a dangerous shot from Valverde from outside the box. Two warnings in just 5 minutes, a prelude to what could await Girona if they didn't put all five senses into it.
But he did it and once that initial push from Madrid was overcome, the locals began to stretch the lines and the first time they set foot in the area, Ivan Martín sent a pass backwards for the arrival of Miguel Gutiérrez who delicately placed it over his head of Taty Castellanos and he did not forgive. The ecstasy in Montilivi was total while despair – personified above all in the figure of Vinícius – took over the whites. In the play after the goal, in fact, the Brazilian had them precisely with Castellanos and later faced the public while touching the world champion shield, a gesture that Montilivi did not forgive him throughout the game, nor did Santi Well, who he hooked up with right after. For this pair of unsportsmanlike actions, the Brazilian deserved the expulsion; then the referee forgave him the second yellow.
But Girona knew how to take advantage of the Madridista climate of confusion and a ball from Arnau Martínez from their own half was picked up by Castellanos, beating the back of a slow Militão to stand alone against Lunin and score the second. The local fans did not believe it and even less when Tsygankov forgave another chance to make it 3-0.
But Madrid got back into the game thanks to Vinícius who, coming from behind, finished off a cross from Asensio (2-1) from none and completely alone.
After that, and on the verge of half-time, Vinícius himself caused Arnau to see a yellow card that will make him miss the next game in the Sevilla field due to accumulation.
But that, after all, only turned out to be an anecdote on a night when everything turned out for him at Girona. Because just after the break, in the first minute, Taty Castellanos once again continued his particularly glorious night scoring a third goal, after finishing off a perfect cross from Yan Couto at the first touch that Iván Martín had masterfully missed.
The whites, unable to react, saw how the people from Girona did practically what they wanted on the pitch and, once again, Castellanos sentenced with another header that drove Montilivi crazy, who couldn't believe what he was seeing. But the night was as real as it was memorable.
