Real Madrid crashed to a damaging 2-0 home defeat by Celta Vigo on Sunday in La Liga, finishing the game with nine men after red cards for Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras.
Williot Swedberg struck twice in the second half for Celta, with Madrid’s second league defeat of the season leaving rivals Barcelona four points clear at the top of La Liga.
Xabi Alonso’s side, second, also lost defender Eder Militao to injury on a difficult night in the Spanish capital.
Madrid were playing their first match at home following six on the road across all competitions after hosting an NFL match at the Bernabeu, coinciding with a poor run of form, having now won just one of their last five league games.
“(This was) tremendous… we read the game very well, we had some luck in the chances that we had, but we did well,” Celta striker Borja Iglesias told Movistar.
“With the team they have and their quality, it’s hard to equal them, but we read it well, we had the ball, we played in their half, we played a great game.”
With a juicy Champions League clash against Manchester City and Erling Haaland approaching on Wednesday, Alonso chose to rest centre-back Antonio Rudiger, starting with Carreras in the heart of defence.
Rudiger’s break did not last long, with the German defender coming on midway through the first half after Militao pulled up injured.
Raul Asencio started at right-back, after Trent Alexander-Arnold was sidelined for two months with a thigh injury, continuing a tough start to life in the Spanish capital for the former Liverpool defender.
Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ionut Radu made a handful of good saves in the first half, keeping out a Jude Bellingham header and Arda Guler’s drive from range.
Madrid were struggling to create serious danger as Celta set up in a tough-to-crack low defensive block, denying dangerous forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior space.
Guler missed Madrid’s best chance of the first half, with the Turkish playmaker sending a shot wide on the swivel after Mbappe teed him up.
Radu also thwarted Vinicius after Aurelien Tchouameni chopped a ball in behind the defence for the Brazilian to run onto, a rare crack in Celta’s armour.
Celta’s Romanian goalkeeper turned away a fierce Fede Valverde effort from distance early in the second half, before Celta stunned the hosts.
Bryan Zaragoza crossed from the left for Swedberg, who produced a gorgeous flicked finish to beat Thibaut Courtois to send the Galicians ahead.
Madrid were wounded, literally in the case of Bellingham, with blood running down his face from a cut sustained in a tussle with Celta target man Iglesias.
Adding insult to injury Fran Garcia earned two yellow cards inside a minute, the second for a clumsy foul on Swedberg, to leave Los Blancos with 10 men for the final third of the match.
Mbappe sent a lob over Radu but down onto the roof of the net and substitute Gonzalo Garcia headed just wide as Madrid searched for an equaliser, which did not come.
Carreras was dismissed in stoppage time as Madrid lost their heads, for dissent, as he protested a decision by referee Alejandro Quintero.
With Madrid down to nine and in disarray, Celta wrapped up their win as Swedberg rounded Courtois and ran the ball home.
Espanyol continued their superb start to the season with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano to climb up to fifth.
Roberto Fernandez netted a first-half penalty for Manolo Gonzalez’s team at the RCDE Stadium in Cornella as they won a third straight league game.
Espanyol trail fourth-place Atletico Madrid by four points, having played one game fewer than Diego Simeone’s team.
Rayo midfielder Unai Lopez was sent off after the break for a second yellow card, and the hosts spurned several opportunities to expand their lead.
Both teams finished the match with 10 men after Espanyol’s English winger Tyrhys Dolan picked up a second yellow card in the final stages.
