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The Harambee Stars captain had become the first Girona player to set the landmark in the Spanish top flight but his feat has since been wiped out
Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga has graciously accepted ‘defeat’ after seeing his La Liga goalscoring record broken by Girona’s Valentin Mariano Castellanos on Tuesday.
Castellanos, better known as Taty Castellanos, scored all four goals as Girona secured a shock 4-2 victory over champions Real Madrid and in the process became the first player to score more than three goals in a Spanish top flight match for the club.
His feat saw him break Olunga’s record when he became the first Girona player to score a hat-trick in La Liga following his feat against Las Palmas in January 2018.
Having been loaned out to Girona from Chinese side Guizhou Zhicheng for the 2017-18 season, Olunga had a La Liga debut to remember, scoring a hat-trick in the span of 22 minutes during a 6-0 win, becoming both the first Kenyan player and the first Girona player to manage such a feat in the Spanish top flight.
However, Castellanos has now surpassed that after scoring in the 12th, 24th, 46th and 62nd minutes of Girona's Matchday 31 La Liga tie against the Madrid titans.
With the new record set, Girona sought to perhaps remind Olunga that his numbers had been wiped out and asked for his permission to crown the new ‘king.’
“Olunga with your permission,” Girona Tweeted with an image of Castellanos holding the match ball to which the Al-Duhail striker responded: “Permission granted.”
Olunga did not last more than one season in Spain as Girona opted against making the move permanent and he left after featuring in 14 top flight games while scoring three goals, joining Kashiwa Reysol in Japan before switching to Qatar with Al-Duhail in January 2021.
He has become a key player for Al-Duhail since then, winning the Golden Boot Award last season, after bagging 30 goals in 29 matches (24 in the league) and he has already beaten that tally this season, having notched 33 in 35 games so far.
Castellanos, meanwhile, broke a number of records on Tuesday, becoming the first Argentinian player to score four goals against the Blancos in a La Liga match.
Even Lionel Messi, arguably the best player the game has ever seen, never managed to score four goals against his former team's arch-rivals Real Madrid. Castellanos also added his name to the exclusive list of players who have scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid.
Robert Lewandowski was the last to do so during the 2013 UEFA Champions League semi-final when the Pole was playing at Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Castellanos also became the fifth player to score four home goals against Madrid.
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