The New York City FC loanee plundered four goals against the European champions to continue his impressive season in La Liga after tearing up MLS
Not many players get to score four goals past Real Madrid, but Valentin 'Taty' Castellanos joined an elite club with a striker's masterclass for Girona as the Catalan minnows thumped the European champions 4-2 in La Liga on Tuesday.
The Argentine conquered Major League Soccer with New York City FC, firing the Boys In Blue to the MLS Cup in 2021, and he is now tearing up La Liga in his loan spell with Girona.
In his first season in Spain, Castellanos has scored 11 goals, as many as Antoine Griezmann and one more than Vinicius Junior.
The 24-year-old is the latest success story of the City Football Group, shining for three clubs in Manchester City's stable of teams in South America, North America and now Europe.
And after his goal blitz against Madrid, clubs across the continent will be taking notice of Castellanos, who is available in the summer for just €15 million ($16.5m).
Getty ImagesIn the footsteps of Lewandowski
Madrid had kept consecutive clean sheets in their last four matches before facing Girona, but Castellanos only needed 12 minutes to score against them, netting with a simple header.
Later in the first half he out-paced and out-muscled Eder Militao before beating goalkeeper Andrii Lunin with a powerful low finish.
He pounced again right at the start of the second half with a first-time finish to complete his hat-trick, before netting a second header for goal number four.
No team had scored four goals past Real this season, but suddenly Castellanos had done so all by himself.
He became the first player to score four times against Madrid in any competition since Robert Lewandowski for Borussia Dortmund in 2013, and was the first player to do so in a La Liga match for 76 years, since Real Oviedo's Esteban Echevarria.
Advertisement@GettyBouncing back
Castellanos called it "the dream night".
"We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and I could not have imagined that. Scoring against Real Madrid was already a dream, so scoring four goals, I couldn't even imagine it," he said.
Coach Michel paid tribute to his striker for dusting himself off and responding to a big setback earlier this month, when he missed a big chance to score the only goal against Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Castellanos was so affected by the reaction to the miss that he shut his social media accounts.
“The other day he had a miss against Barcelona and it looked like it was the end of the world for him,” 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.”
Getty ImagesGlobetrotting in search of success
Castellanos' journey to stardom has taken him around the world. Born in Mendoza in western Argentina, he began his career in the youth set up of local side Independiente Rivadavia.
But he ended up seeking his fortune across the border with Universidad de Chile, making his professional debut in 2017 in the Copa Sudamericana, South America's equivalent of the Europa League.
Later in the year, he was swiftly sent on loan to Uruguayan side Montevideo City Torque, who had just been taken over by the City Football Group.
After helping Torque get promoted to Uruguay's top-flight in 2018, he went out on loan to NYCFC, the Manchester club's first expansion side, at the age of 19, before sealing a permanent move in 2019.
GettyLearning alongside David Villa
Working under coach Domenec Torrent, Guardiola's former assistant at City, Castellanos came of age in the Big Apple.
His development was helped by meeting the best mentor he could have hoped for: World Cup and Champions League winner David Villa.
"What I learned from him was incredible," Castellanos told . "Training with someone like that teaches you so much. First of all human values, but on a footballing level too. He taught me how to take free-kicks, how he shaped to shoot, how he would find space, how he would play with only one touch."
Castellanos scored 11 goals in his first full campaign at the club, though his best season came in 2021, when he netted 22 times and was nominated for the Landon Donovan MVP award.
The Argentine was also pivotal to NYCFC winning the MLS Cup for the first time, scoring in the final against Portland Timbers and converting his penalty in the shootout victory.
Having proved himself in the United States, it was time for a move to Europe, and Girona, where CFG own a 47 percent stake, was a logical move.