REAL UNEASE
Ever tried to soak up Spanish culture only to discover the match you booked isn’t even on? That’s what happened when we headed to Gran Alacant, expecting an Elche home game. A local with a thick Mackem twang warned us the fixture had been pushed to the next evening—another victim of Spanish TV’s last‑minute reshuffles. We missed the live action, but we caught Real Madrid teeter on the brink of a point against Elche on Tuesday night.
With a budget fourteen times larger than Elche’s, Madrid raced to a 2‑0 lead, seemingly cruising to a routine win. Yet missed chances—from Vinícius Júnior’s wayward shot—to second‑half strikes by Abiel Osorio and Fer Niño forced Mourinho into a sweat. Elche surged in the final seven minutes, hunting an unlikely winner. The fairy‑tale never came; Carlos Espí clinched a late goal, sealing Madrid’s escape from another season‑long hole.
‘Three points, nothing more,’ Mourinho said after the match. He admitted the game felt like it slipped from easy control to chaos, despite the chances they created. ‘We took all the risks at the end. We won, but we could have lost.’ The Portuguese coach will now eye a tighter display against Atlético at the Wanda Metropolitano before the international break.
Vinícius Jr. barely made an impact, yet he was one of three Madrid stars who refused the solidarity T‑shirts handed out before kickoff. Alongside Kylian Mbappé and Ibrahima Konaté, he declined to wear ‘Todos somos caballas’—a slogan supporting Ceuta amid an influx of 80,000 migrants, mostly from Morocco. Critics accused the players of favoring migrants over locals, leaving the squad in an awkward spot where any choice seemed wrong.
Will Madrid sort out their on‑field nerves and off‑field missteps before the next big clash?
Catch Niall McVeigh at 8 pm BST for a heated Bigger Vase clockwatch, while Will Unwin provides live Rumblews Cup goal updates.