ELCHE: Real Madrid squandered a two-goal lead before substitute Carlos Espi struck in stoppage time to secure a dramatic 3-2 victory at Elche in La Liga on Tuesday.

Real went 2-0 up inside 33 minutes through a Matias Dituro own goal and Kylian Mbappe, but second-half strikes from Abiel Osorio and Fer Nino hauled Elche level before Espi restored the visitors’ lead in the 91st minute.

Real Madrid moved level at the top of the table with Barcelona on 15 points, although the Catalan side have a game in hand. Elche remain winless and are rooted to the bottom of the La Liga table with two points.

“(Espi) comes on with great motivation, (but) he has in front of him a player who is not a normal player,” said Mourinho of Mbappe.

“Playing with the two of them is not easy… with the changes I made late on, I risked everything, because a draw was not enough.”

Mourinho was unhappy with his team not extending their 2-0 lead and allowing Elche, now bottom of La Liga, to fight back.

“There are games which seem to be over… which we’re not killing off, and after not killing them off they go from easy to being out of control,” added the veteran coach.

Mourinho rested Jude Bellingham for the first time this season, bringing Arda Guler into the team in his place.

Players from both teams wore T-shirts in support of residents from the city of Ceuta after the recent migration crisis in the Spanish territory in North Africa, although Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Ibrahima Konate rolled them halfway up, appearing to slightly obscure the message “we are all Ceutans”.

Real defended their players’ right to have differing opinions.

The show of support comes after more than 70,000 irregular crossings into Ceuta from Morocco occurred in July, sparking solidarity movements across Spain.

A Real Madrid official told Reuters that the club accepted Elche’s request to show such support in solidarity and wear the shirts, but as an organisation respect differing opinions and gave each player the freedom to choose whether or not to wear the shirt.

Earlier on Tuesday, Valencia earned a 1-0 win at Deportivo Alaves, while Rayo Vallecano defeated Espanyol 2-1.

It was Valencia’s first win of the season, after they sacked coach Carlos Corberan on Sunday, secured with a Luis Rioja strike with 12 minutes to go.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026