Real Madrid needed a 91st-minute tap-in from Carlos Espi to survive at Elche, and Jose Mourinho was in no mood to hide it. Kylian Mbappe and Arda Güler had put the visitors two goals up inside 33 minutes at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero on Tuesday, before Abiel Osorio and Fer Niño levelled things and Espi rescued the 3-2 win in stoppage time.
Mourinho explained why he had thrown on extra attackers at the death.
“In the end we risked everything, because a draw does not serve us.”
“We have a lot of talent, and we took the maximum risk, and the players had a feeling that we could not lose.”
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No exception for Güler
Güler’s deflected free-kick had put Real Madrid ahead in the first half, but the Turkey playmaker was one of those hooked in the second. Mourinho batted away any suggestion that recent form should have earned him protection.
“There is no indispensable player. When I make the changes, it is because we were losing control,” he told reporters, noting that Güler’s intensity had dropped while operating in the number 10 role.
There was a wider point too.
“My only criticism is that we can kill matches off and we don’t.”
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Espi’s stoppage-time winner
Espi’s tap-in, from Jude Bellingham’s run down the left and Mbappe’s unselfish square pass, was another late winner from the 21-year-old, who scored in identical fashion on his Real Madrid debut against Espanyol last month.
Mbappe’s early goal, a simple finish after a cross from summer signing Yan Diomande, was his seventh in La Liga this season. Diomande was one of the few players Mourinho highlighted.
“He is developing. He has a great capacity for work and intelligence.”
Tchouameni back in from the start
Aurelien Tchouameni returned to the starting eleven after being carefully reintroduced from injury over the past two matches, and combined with Federico Valverde during Real Madrid’s fluent first-half spell. Mourinho, appointed on an initial three-year contract in June 2026, has now beaten each of the 25 La Liga opponents he has faced across his managerial career.
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Real Madrid visit Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano on Sunday, September 20, for the first Madrid derby of Mourinho’s second spell in charge.
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