Real Madrid survive late scare at Martínez Valero amid pre-match T-shirt row

Real Madrid edged past Elche at the Estadio Martínez Valero in La Liga on Tuesday night after Carlos Espí produced a late winner, with several Madrid players embroiled in a pre-match T-shirt controversy.

While attempting to attend an Elche home match years ago in Gran Alicant, the writer and friends paused at a bodega called the Dick Turpin to drink Guinness before being told by an elderly local with a mackem accent that the game was not until the following evening; the match had been moved by Spanish TV at short notice. The visitors never saw Elche play in person that trip but watched on TV on Tuesday night as the relegation-zone side came very close to taking a point from Real Madrid.

Allowed to spend 14 times more on players and coaching staff than their hosts at the Estadio Martínez Valero under La Liga rules, Real Madrid raced into a 2-0 lead and looked to be in control. A succession of missed chances (hello, Vinícius Júnior) followed, however, and second-half sucker punches from Abiel Osorio and Fer Niño restored parity and left José Mourinho sweating as Elche pushed for an unlikely late winner.

Carlos Espí then produced a late, late winner to break Elche hearts and dig his side out of one of several holes they have already found themselves in this season. “Three points and nothing more,” harrumphed Mourinho in his post-match interview. “The problem seems obvious to me. It’s harder to know why but it’s easier to understand that there are matches that seem over but in the end, aren’t. Matches where we have three, four, five chances to finish them but don’t. After failing to do so, it feels like we go from ease to losing control. With the changes I made in the end, I took all the risks. We won but I could have lost.”

Before kick-off both sets of players were handed T-shirts bearing the slogan “Todos somos caballas” ("We are all mackerels") in support of the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, which was overwhelmed by the arrival of 80,000 migrants, mostly from Morocco, in recent months. Vinícius Jr, Kylian Mbappé and Ibrahima Konaté chose not to display the shirts on the pitch and were subsequently lambasted in some quarters for being too supportive of the migrants and not supportive enough of the citizens of Ceuta, creating an awkward situation for the Madrid players.

Vinícius Jr was described as out-of-sorts on Tuesday night and did little beyond convince Arsenal fans they may have dodged a very expensive summer bullet. The upset at Martínez Valero leaves Mourinho and his squad with questions to answer defensively after a game that repeatedly looked like it might slip away late on.

Mourinho will be hoping for an improved performance when Real make the short trip to the Wanda Metropolitano to face city rivals Atlético on Sunday (or Saturday, depending on the whims of broadcasters) before the international break.