Girona Beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 Despite Alvaro Morata Hat-Trick

Alvaro Morata scored a hat-trick and also had a goal disallowed by the VAR but Girona still beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 in La Liga on Wednesday. Watch highlights.
Girona Beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 Despite Alvaro Morata Hat-Trick
Girona Beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 Despite Alvaro Morata Hat-Trick /

Girona are level on points with La Liga leaders Real Madrid after 19 rounds of fixtures this season.

Spain's biggest overachievers started 2024 by beating Atletico Madrid 4-3 on Wednesday.

Girona had never previously won a league game against Atletico.

But goals from Valery Fernandez, Savio and Daley Blind saw the home side move into a 3-1 lead inside 39 minutes.

Atletico were level by the 54th minute courtesy of a hat-trick from Alvaro Morata, who would have scored four goals were it not for a VAR intervention.

Morata still ended up on the losing team though because Ivan Martin struck a superb winner in added time to keep Girona's unlikely title bid on track.

Highlights: Girona 4-3 Atletico Madrid

Alvaro Morata pictured (center) scoring a goal for Atletico Madrid during a 4-3 loss at Girona in January 2024
Alvaro Morata (center) scored three goals on Wednesday and had another disallowed but his Atletico Madrid side lost 4-3 at Girona :: IMAGO/AOP.Press/Manuel Blondeau

Third-placed Atletico now sit 10 points behind Girona, who have never finished higher than 10th in Spain's top division.

Girona have won 15 of their first 19 league matches of the season.

Their only defeat was a 3-0 home loss against Real Madrid in September.


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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.