AEK Athens 2-3 Real Madrid: Real Madrid survived a famous Athens scare twice over on Wednesday night, Federico Valverde scoring in the 92nd minute to beat AEK Athens 3-2, keep their perfect Champions League record alive and take Jose Mourinho's side to 12 points from four games.
Madrid knew what was coming. Our preview of this trip to Athens warned that AEK's home crowd would turn the OPAP Arena — the Allwyn Arena on Champions League nights — into a cauldron, and that Vinicius Junior's return from his domestic ban would not make this a routine away night. It was anything but routine. AEK led twice, through Aboubakary Koita and Stavros Pilios, and were three minutes of normal time plus stoppages away from their first ever win over Madrid. Instead they were left with nothing, beaten by the competition's most ruthless habit: Madrid finding a way at the death.
AEK Stun Madrid, Bellingham Answers With a Backheel
AEK struck first in the 12th minute. Luka Jovic, once a Madrid striker himself, set up Koita, and the winger beat Thibaut Courtois to send the home crowd into delirium. It was no smash-and-grab lead. AEK pressed Madrid high, Kervin Arriaga snapped into midfield duels — and into the book in the 34th minute — and for twenty minutes Mourinho's side looked rattled in a way they rarely have during this perfect start.
The equaliser, when it came in the 32nd minute, was worthy of the stage. Marc Cucurella crossed from the left and Jude Bellingham finished it with a sumptuous backheel, levelling at 1-1. As Get Spanish Football News noted, it was Cucurella's first assist since joining Real Madrid — and he was not the only summer full-back to reach that milestone in Athens. Madrid pushed for a second before the break, Kylian Mbappe alone finishing the night with seven shots, but AEK held on to go in level.
Pilios Restores the Lead, Mbappe Replies in Three Minutes
The second half followed the same script, only louder. AEK coach Marko Nikolic refreshed his side — Zini on for Lovro Majer, then Barnabas Varga and Razvan Marin — while Mourinho introduced Valverde and Endrick in the 67th minute, a double change that would decide the game. First, though, Athens erupted again. In the 75th minute Koita turned provider, setting up left-back Pilios to restore AEK's lead at 2-1. With fifteen minutes left, the shock of Matchday 4 was on.
It lasted three minutes. In the 78th minute Denzel Dumfries delivered across the face of goal and Mbappe finished to make it 2-2 — Dumfries, like Cucurella, registering his first assist in Madrid colours. The full match record is available via Sportradar's match centre, and the closing stages are also charted at RealMadrid.dk. Madrid poured forward: Mbappe shot off target twice in the closing minutes, Endrick and substitute Carlos Espi, on for Bellingham in the 86th minute, both went close, and AEK replaced Jovic with Oleksandr Zubkov in the 88th minute as they tried to see it out.
They could not. In the 92nd minute Brahim Diaz, introduced late in the game, set up Valverde, and the captain — who had started on the bench as Mourinho managed his return — drove in the winner for 3-2. The final whistle came at 90+5 with Madrid's players celebrating a win that felt like a statement and AEK's applauded off for a performance that deserved more. The numbers told the story of Madrid's pressure: 64 per cent possession, 21 shots to nine, eight on target to five, and seven corners to none. There were no red cards and no penalties; Cucurella's yellow card was Madrid's only booking, matching Arriaga's for the hosts.
So What Does This Mean?
Madrid move to 12 points from four league-phase games — four wins from four — and sit second in the table, their perfect run matching the one they carried into Athens after the 3-0 win at Racing Santander at the weekend, when Mbappe, Bellingham and Yan Diomande were also on target. A top-eight finish, and direct passage to the last 16, is now firmly in their hands. Just as importantly, Mourinho learned his bench can win him games like this: Valverde scored the winner, Brahim made it, and both full-backs recorded their first Madrid assists on the same night.
For AEK, this is a brutal outcome. They remain on three points and 30th in the table, twice leading the most successful club in this competition's history and taking nothing from it. Performances like this — Koita with a goal and an assist, Pilios scoring from left-back, a game plan that troubled Madrid for 90 minutes — suggest the points their campaign needs can still come, but moral victories do not move a team out of the elimination places. Their next European nights are now close to must-win.
Beyond the Final Whistle verdict: This is why Madrid are never beaten until the whistle goes. Mourinho's side were twice behind, twice rattled and still found three answers, the last of them from their captain off the bench in the 92nd minute. AEK deserved a point and got a lesson instead — in this competition, against this club, a lead is only ever borrowed. Did AEK deserve more from this game, or is Madrid's late ruthlessness simply what champions do? Let us know in the comments.
