Real Madrid Lose 2-1 to Girona in Shocking La Liga Upset

Real Madrid suffered a shock La Liga defeat on Sunday, going down 2-1 at Girona, the first time the two teams had ever met in a competitive fixture.

Isco opened the scoring for the visitors, but Girona, who also hit the post twice, equalised through Cristhian Stuani before Portu sealed a historic win.

The result leaves Madrid eight points behind league leaders Barcelona after 10 games played.

The two teams shared their lineups via their official Twitter accounts:

The home side started well and were a little unfortunate not to take the lead, Pablo Maffeo cutting inside and curling a shot on to the post.

Unfortunately for Girona, the ball broke clear and allowed Madrid to break through Karim Benzema.

He found Cristiano Ronaldo, whose shot was only parried by goalkeeper Bono straight into the path of Isco who tapped home.

Goal’s Ben Hayward felt it was a tough break for the hosts:

Meanwhile, Squawka Football noted how influential Isco has become for Madrid:

Despite going a goal down, Girona continued to pose a threat and almost equalised just after the half-hour mark.

Aday Benitez crossed from the left for Portu, whose header beat Kiko Casilla in the Madrid goal, but again Girona were denied by the post.

Football writer Sid Lowe gave his view of Madrid's first-half performance:

Madrid made a change at the break, sending on Nacho Fernandez for Raphael Varane, who had taken a knock.

Less than 10 minutes into the second half and Girona grabbed the equaliser their performance had deserved.

Borja Garcia made a great run into the box, going past several Madrid shirts, before managing to find Stuani who beat Nacho before firing past Casilla.

Minutes later and Girona were ahead, Stuani's shot parried by Casilla and falling to Maffeo, who fired goalward with Portu flicking home from close range.

Zinedine Zidane responded by changing formation, taking off full-backs Marcelo and Achraf Hakimi and sending on Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio.

ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan explaining Zidane's thinking:

However, Girona almost grabbed a third, Stuani dinking the ball past Casilla and just wide of the post.

Madrid pressed and did manage to get the ball in the back of the net, through Vazquez, but it was correctly ruled out for offside.

Girona then held on for the win, defending stoutly, while still posing a threat for a fully deserved three points, as Madrid slipped to their first away defeat in the league this season.