Real Madrid needed a 90th minute winner to seal a 3-2 victory over Elche in their Spanish La Liga match on Tuesday night.
Teenage summer signing Carlos Espi came to rescue of the former La Liga champions again on a night his teammates missed several chances to put the game to rest before his introduction.
The capital city club visited Alicante where Elche had fallen 5-0 to Barcelona earlier this season, but Jose Mourinho’s team made hard work of their hosts at the Mario Martinez Valero stadium despite holding a comfortable two-goal lead at halftime.
Matias Dituro had scored an own goal from Arda Guler’s free kick on 25 minutes, and Kylian Mbappe doubled the lead eight minutes later from Yan Diomande’s assist, and Los Blancos were cruising towards a straightforward win.
Elche, however, turned the tide with two goals in 12 minutes through Abiel Osorio’s header and Fer Nimo’s strike to pull the hosts level and threaten Real Madrid with dropped point for the second time this season.
Espi, who came on as a substitute, missed an earlier opportunity to regain the lead for Real, but eventually scored the winner when he slotted into an empty net from Mbappe’s pass after excellent work from Jude Bellingham to send the Frenchman through on goal.
Real Madrid moved up to second place on the La Liga table with 15 points from six matches, level on points with leaders Barcelona who have a superior goals difference and play on Wednesday.