Vinícius Jr the only bright light in Real Madrid’s nightmare loss to Girona

Real Madrid’s league hopes — lost long ago, in truth — were buried deeper after a 4-2 loss to Girona on Tuesday, with Vinícius Jr, who was Real Madrid’s most threatening player, enduring a frustrating night.

The Brazilian forward, who has now already equalled his goal tally from last season, was unable to receive enough help from his teammates against Girona, who stunned the defending champions with a four-goal display from Taty Castellanos.

Vinícius scored Real Madrid’s first goal in the 34th minute after converting Marco Asensio’s cross, but he also received a yellow card for protesting to the referee after being kicked by Girona defender Santiago Bueno.

Vinícius was involved in another controversial incident in the second half, when he was fouled by Arnau Martínez, who escaped without a booking. Vinícius took to Twitter after the game to express his dissatisfaction with the refereeing, posting “La Liga” with two sweating emojis:

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. Once again, Vinicius was the victim of disgusting racist abuse, so apparent, that it was clearly caught on camera:

Real Madrid as a whole failed to cope with Girona’s counter-attacks and set-pieces. Castellanos scored twice in each half, becoming the first player in more than 75 years to score four goals in a single La Liga game against Real Madrid.

Lucas Vázquez scored a late consolation for Real Madrid, who remain 11 points behind leaders Barcelona, who have a game in hand. Carlo Ancelotti’s side will have to regroup quickly ahead of their Copa del Rey final against Osasuna in May and their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City shortly after.