Two players sent off for Real Madrid in shock home loss to Celta Vigo

Real Madrid crashed to a damaging 2-0 home defeat against Celta Vigo on Sunday in La Liga, finishing the game with nine men after red cards were issued to Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras.

Williot Swedberg struck twice in the second half for Celta, with Real's second league defeat of the season leaving rivals Barcelona four points clear at the top of the Spanish table.

Xabi Alonso's side, who remain second, also lost defender Eder Militao to injury on a difficult night at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ahead of hosting Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

Madrid were playing their first match at home, following six on the road across all competitions after their home ground hosted a one-off NFL game. The trip coincided with a poor run of form, with the team having now won just one of their last five league matches.

"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."

"(This was) tremendous... we read the game very well, we had some luck in the chances that we had, but we did well," Celta Vigo forward Borja 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."

In another key contest, Espanyol continued their superb start to the season with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano to climb up to fifth place. 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-placed Atletico Madrid by four points, having played one game fewer than Diego Simeone's squad.