With seven minutes left at the Stadio Olimpico, Real Madrid were two goals down and Jose Mourinho was walking into the kind of night that follows a manager around. Roma were 3-1 up. The banners in the home end still had his name on them. Then his substitutes took the game apart and Madrid won 4-3.
Carlos Espi, Endrick and Antonio Rudiger scored the three goals that turned it, all of them inside the last seven minutes, two of them from corners taken by another substitute, Arda Guler. Rudiger finished it off with a close-range volley in the 90th minute. Roma had made their changes to protect a lead and ended up unable to defend a set-piece.
Mourinho's return, and the banners
Mourinho took Roma to the Conference League title in 2021-22 and to the Europa League final the season after, and the home supporters had not forgotten it. One banner read "Welcome back Special One". For 83 minutes it looked as though the welcome would be the only thing he took home.
Marten de Roon put Roma ahead in the 20th minute with a first-time shot from 20 yards after Matias Soule had slipped the ball to him. Madrid were behind for five minutes. Kylian Mbappe, making his 100th Champions League appearance, struck a shot that clipped Gianluca Mancini and looped over Pierluigi Gollini. It was his 72nd goal in the competition, which moves him fifth outright and one clear of Raul.
Malen's six minutes
The second half belonged to Donyell Malen for a while. Vinicius Jr lost the ball with a careless attempted flick, Malen shot, Federico Valverde deflected it past his own goalkeeper, and Roma led again. Six minutes later Malen finished coolly for 3-1. The flag went up for offside, but the video assistant referee found that Valverde had played him on.
Malen spent 2025 at Aston Villa, so the Premier League audience knows the finishing. At 3-1 with a quarter of an hour left, Gian Piero Gasperini started sending on defenders. That is the decision the Roma supporters will chew over.
Three goals, seven minutes
Espi had been on the pitch five minutes when Endrick's header was parried and the rebound fell to him. Endrick got the next one himself, a header from Guler's corner. Then Guler swung in another and Rudiger steered it in from close range. Jude Bellingham was rated the best player on the pitch, though the scoreboard belonged to the bench.
Madrid now have two wins from two in the league phase. Roma have a point from a draw and this. Six points behind Barcelona in La Liga, Mourinho's side are not yet where they want to be domestically, but they left Rome with the sort of result that changes the mood of a season.
Match facts: Roma 3-4 Real Madrid, Stadio Olimpico, Champions League league phase. Roma: De Roon 20, Malen two in the second half. Real Madrid: Mbappe 25, Espi, Endrick, Rudiger 90. Real Madrid have six points from two games; Roma have one.
0 Comments