It was late, it was noisy and it was almost over – the match and maybe even something more – when Real Madrid’s coach took the forward who is also his flatmate to one side on Tuesday night. Standing close, Mourinho had a message to deliver; he also had a piece of paper. Small, folded, half-hidden in his hand, it was not big enough for much more than a single word, shown almost surreptitiously, the request written on it, like what he had whispered in Espí’s ear, left to your imagination.
Put ball in goal, perhaps. Madrid needed him to, which they should not have. Two goals up inside half an hour at Elche on Tuesday night, they could have added a third or a fourth, maybe even a fifth, before half-time.
But, thinking it was as done as it really should have been, their minds perhaps on Sunday’s derby at Atlético too, they had stopped again, drifting. Vinícius Júnior had gone, Arda Guler had gone, Aurélien Tchouaméni might as well have done, barely able to move any more, and now, somehow, the game was going. Goals from Abiel Osorio in the 71st minute and Fer Niño in the 83rd had made it 2-2.
Antonio Rüdiger was parading the touchline, hands on his head, wearing a look that said: wait, what?! And, control long since lost, the ball not theirs, it could still get worse: somewhere in the notebook, amid all the arrows and the scrawls no one can make sense of, the last, barely decipherable scribble said: “88. Elche are going for the winner too!” All around the Martinez Valero a chant went round: Yes, we can!
They had more possession and as many shots on target, had deserved to draw level and maybe even to lead after a second half they had dominated, and genuinely thought they could too. Which was of course their first mistake, the hope what killed them. With crushing inevitability, the next note says something about Espí and just wide, the one after says 4’ and the one after that just ESPÍ.
A step forward, the whole Elche line following to their inevitable demise, and there was the space. On as a substitute, rested to begin with, Jude Bellingham’s superb run and pass released Kylian Mbappé who laid off for Espí to score, staff and subs, dressed in pink, racing down the touchline. He had only gone and done it again.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
