Real Madrid enjoys the vertigo, galloping, to the beat of rock & roll guitar riffs. It also agonizes in its own runaway rhythm. It is a very entertaining and frustrating team, a spree that for now only knows how to control matches by overwhelming them. It has no other way to govern. It could have destroyed Elche in the first half, but left it with a pulse only at 0-2 and allowed it to fight back, equalize, and bring Madrid to the brink of terminal despair. And there, beyond the 90th minute, in the second minute of added time, Espí appeared again, as in Cornellà, a soldier on missions at the limit, to rescue the victory that his team had had in the pocket for a long time and almost let slip away.
The match had already presented some unexpected events. Madrid agreed that their players would go out on the field wearing shirts supporting Ceuta, but Mbappé, Vinicius, and Konaté hid the message. Mourinho also surprised, reversing what he had announced the day before and keeping Bellingham on the bench, which opened the attacking midfield spot for Güler, who left the right wing to Diomande, another explosive sprinter.
There was another change that favored the frenzy. Valverde had Tchouameni by his side for the first time, a pure anchor that allowed him to detach from the pivot. The Uruguayan is a wild soul, happy running, expansive. And in that version, he helped the team escape Elche’s pressing attempts and accelerate his team’s pace even more. At 41 seconds, he had already broken free down the right wing and had put a goal-scoring ball to Mbappé that Redondo defused at the last moment.
Life stirs at full speed in this Mourinho Madrid that feels loss of control as something structural. In the next blink, Tchouameni stole the ball, passed it to Arda, and the Turk left Vinicius one-on-one. He hit it badly and sent it wide. The Brazilian moved across the field as if on the edge, always on the verge of causing something devastating. A heel flick slipped from his boot that almost gifted a goal to Mbappé, a toe shot from the edge of the box, a subtle left-footed shot that Dituro saved with his left palm… Everything seemed about to blow up all the time. But that did not happen in the spree but as a result of Güler’s surgical precision.
The Turk did not allow anyone to dispute the taking of a free kick slightly skewed to the right. He stood before the ball with lethal determination in his eyes. He aimed at the post Dituro had to guard but neglected with a step to the other side. Arda hit the base of the post, and the ball went in after passing behind the goalkeeper.
The vertigo that Madrid rides opens the world ahead, but also offers opportunities on the other side. Elche kept trying to exit with order. And from time to time, they got close to Courtois: Morente found space there to shoot wide, as did Osorio twice with a half-turn. Unlike other times, this seems to bother Mourinho’s Real little, who keeps doing their thing, shock after shock. Valverde connected with a through pass with Diomande’s run, and the winger put an exact ball to Mbappé to score the second.
It was also the definitive takeoff point for Diomande, who left shyness, or caution, behind and began to find his long stride, leaving a collection of indecipherable dribbles that frustrated defenders, increasingly numerous around him, all without the slightest idea of how to catch him.
The unbridled vertigo led in some way by Güler causes permanent unease in opponents, but if they hold on without collapsing, it deflates and opens opportunities for a response. After an hour of shocks, Elche began to more often step near Courtois’s area.
Mourinho detected the decline and withdrew Güler, exhausted, and Vinicius, unable to convert multiple good chances. The Brazilian shows undeniable physical vigor but remains out of tune, off point, without the final finesse that elevates talented footballers to transcendence. Bellingham and Brahim came on, and Diomande moved to the left, where he continued his work.
Then what threatened to happen happened. Cepeda reached the end line on the left, crossed, and Osorio connected a great header that Courtois could do nothing about. After many times being about to overwhelm Elche, suddenly they were back within the rival’s reach. The rival got excited, and Fer Niño scored the equalizer with a cross shot in the area. Mourinho responded with more frenzy, now desperate, sending two forwards onto the field, Endrick and Espí, who again rescued Real after the penultimate crazy counterattack. From vertigo to vertigo passing through anguish, until catching another victory.
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| Position | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
17 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
18 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
19 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Position | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
3 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
4 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
5 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
