Elche 2-3 Real Madrid: Espi repeats last-gasp heroics as Mourinho's side edge thriller

Carlos Espi scored his second last-gasp winner of the season as Real Madrid battled to a breathless 3-2 victory over Elche in LaLiga.

It looked as though Madrid would leave the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero with just a single point, offering Barcelona a chance to pull clear at the summit, after they squandered a 2-0 half-time lead.

But Espi – who netted in the final minute of his Madrid debut to clinch a 2-1 win at Espanyol on the opening matchday – repeated the trick one minute into stoppage time as Jose Mourinho breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Some wasteful finishing from Vinicius Junior was the only thing that denied Madrid an early lead, but they did hit the front in the 25th minute, as Arda Guler's curled free-kick bounced off the left post and rebounded along Matias Dituro's line before flicking in off the unfortunate Elche goalkeeper. 

Madrid had daylight eight minutes later as Yan Diomande slotted a neat pass across the area for Kylian Mbappe to tuck home, earning the Ivorian his first goal involvement in LaLiga and the Frenchman a whack on his knee from the onrushing Dituro.

Mbappe did clamber back to his feet and play on, and only the offside flag denied him his brace late in the first half, with Vinicius later passing up another big chance for 3-0.

And Elche came storming back as they looked team transformed in the second half. Abiel Osorio halved the arrears in the 71st minute, redirecting his header back across Thibaut Courtois, then substitute Fer Nino found the bottom-left corner to spark wild celebrations.

But there was one final twist to come as Mourinho introduced Espi in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold. And when Mbappe darted onto Jude Bellingham's ball down the left channel to square, the 21-year-old was in the right place to tap home.

Espi digs Madrid out of another hole

When Nino dug out a strike that cut across the penalty area and rolled into the far corner with seven minutes to play, things looked bleak for Madrid. 

Even at this early stage of the season, giving Hansi Flick's rampant Barcelona side a chance to pull five points clear with a win over Racing Santander on Wednesday could have been a pivotal moment in the title race.

Enter Espi. From Cristiano Ronaldo to Karim Benzema to Joselu, Madrid have a history of players providing clutch moments when required, and Espi's first two goals in the famous white shirt have both been winners in the 90th minute or later. No other player in the competition has scored two such goals in 2026-27.

As well as taking Madrid level with Barca on 15 points (albeit having played an additional game), the result means Mourinho has beaten all 25 opponents he has faced as a manager in LaLiga.

He recently declared it was only a matter of time before Madrid put seven goals past someone, and they were guilty of more wasteful finishing in this match, having won the expected goals (xG) battle by 3.56 to 0.85, only getting four of their 20 shots on target.