Real Madrid needed a stoppage-time winner from Carlos Espí's own mistake-punishing counterpart… actually, Madrid's late goal from Carlos Espí secured a nervy 3-2 win at bottom club Elche on Tuesday night, with José Mourinho's side nearly squandering a comfortable lead. The result matters because it exposed fragility in a Madrid team that should have won comfortably, and it came alongside a separate controversy over three players declining to display a T-shirt supporting migrants in Ceuta before kick-off.

Madrid, who can spend 14 times more than Elche under La Liga's financial rules, led 2-0 before missed chances and two quick second-half goals from Abiel Osorio and Fer Niño brought Elche level, only for Espí to grab a late winner. Mourinho admitted afterwards he "could have lost" the game. Separately, Vinícius Júnior, Kylian Mbappé and Ibrahima Konaté refused to show the "Todos somos caballas" T-shirt, a gesture of solidarity with Ceuta after roughly 80,000 migrants, mostly from Morocco, arrived there in recent months; the trio faced criticism from multiple sides over the decision. Madrid next face city rivals Atlético at the Wanda Metropolitano before the international break.