Taty Castellanos scores his first La Liga goal as Girona beats Getafe
GIRONA, SPAIN - AUGUST 22: Valentin Castellanos of Girona celebrates with teammates after scoring their side's third goal during the LaLiga Santander match between Girona FC and Getafe CF at Montilivi Stadium on August 22, 2022 in Girona, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) Credit: Getty Images
MADRID — Former Major League Soccer scoring leader Taty Castellanos netted his first goal in the Spanish league as Girona beat Getafe 3-1 for its first win of the season on Monday.
Girona also got on the board with Cristhian Stuani and an own-goal by Getafe defender Domingos Duarte. Enes Unal scored for Getafe when his team already trailed by three goals.
Getafe had opened with a 3-0 home loss to Atlético Madrid, while Girona started with a 1-0 loss at Valencia.
Castellanos, playing on a one-season loan from New York City FC, scored his first league goal from inside the area in the 64th minute.
Girona is back in the first division after a three-year absence. Like NYC it is controlled by City Football Group, the parent company of Manchester City.
Getafe, which dropped to last place with the loss, had defender Fabrizio Angileri sent off deep into stoppage time.
The match marked Girona's debut of Brazilian forward Reinier, who came off the bench in the second half after arriving on loan from Real Madrid following a stint with Borussia Dortmund.
Video review was busy early in the second half, with Girona seeing a penalty call reversed and Getafe having a goal disallowed a few minutes apart.
Defending champion Madrid won at Celta Vigo on Saturday for its second league victory in a row. On Sunday, Barcelona won at Real Sociedad and Atlético Madrid lost to Villarreal at home.
STILL WINLESS
In another match between teams coming off opening losses, Elche was held to a 1-1 draw against promoted Almería at home.
Umar Sadiq put the visitors ahead in the 23rd but Álex Collado equalized for Elche in the 30th.
Both teams have difficult matches in the next round, with Almería hosting Sevilla and Elche welcoming Real Sociedad.
