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, before they host Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
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.
“We have to turn the page as soon as possible. It’s only three points,” urged Alonso.
“We have the Champions League game against City to react in, and get this bad taste out of our mouths.”
With the juicy European battle against Erling Haaland’s City approaching, 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 Borja 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.
“I did not like the refereeing,” said Alonso.
With Madrid down to nine and in disarray, Celta wrapped up their win as Swedberg rounded Courtois and ran the ball home.
"(This was) tremendous... we read the game very well, we had some luck in the chances that we had, but we did well,” Celta’s 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.”
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.
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