Jude Bellingham Shines in Real Madrid's Dramatic La Liga Opener
Jude Bellingham needed nine minutes to remind La Liga exactly who he is.
At the RCDE Stadium, with the noise still settling, the England midfielder rose through a crowd of blue and white shirts and buried a thumping header from Arda Guler’s precise free-kick. One set-piece, one ruthless leap, and Real Madrid were in front before Espanyol had even caught their breath.
Madrid’s press suffocated the hosts early on. White shirts swarmed every loose touch, every hesitant pass. Espanyol looked shaken, but not broken. Out of nowhere, Clemens Riedel stepped up from distance and unleashed a 30-yard rocket that forced Thibaut Courtois into a sharp, full-stretch save. It was a warning that the night would not be one-way traffic.
A brief stoppage to patch up a cut above Dean Huijsen’s eye broke Madrid’s rhythm and gave Espanyol oxygen. The crowd sensed it. The players did too. Passes started to stick, second balls began to fall Espanyol’s way, and the game tilted.
The equaliser, when it came on 30 minutes, was worth the wait. Javi Hernandez danced down the flank, slaloming to the byline with a burst of close control that sliced Madrid open. His cut-back found Alex Calatrava arriving with perfect timing, and the finish was as clean as the move deserved, swept low past Courtois. From cruise control to crisis of composure in the space of a few minutes, Madrid suddenly looked rattled.
Espanyol smelled blood. Real wobbled, and just before the interval they should have been punished. A teasing cross picked out Roberto Fernandez, unmarked and staring at a gaping goal. His header, somehow, went begging. Madrid trudged off level, but they knew they had escaped.
All eyes were on Kylian Mbappe. Mourinho handed him his league debut in white, but Espanyol’s last line refused to play along with the script. Marko Dmitrovic turned the evening into his own personal showcase. First, he spread himself brilliantly to block Mbappe with his legs in a one-on-one. Then he plunged low to smother a driven effort that looked destined for the corner. Every time Mbappe squared up, Dmitrovic answered.
The second half became a grind. Madrid had the ball, Espanyol had the belief. Mourinho, never one to wait for the storm to pass, went to his bench. On came record signing Yan Diomande, a statement substitution as much as a tactical tweak. His pace and direct running immediately unsettled Espanyol’s back line, and when a deflected cross dropped to Federico Valverde on the edge of the box, the Uruguayan smashed a fierce drive that cannoned off the outside of the post. Inches away from breaking the game open.
The pressure kept building. Bellingham, still Madrid’s sharpest weapon, nearly repeated his early trick. From a Guler corner he rose again, this time seeing his header crash against the crossbar with Dmitrovic beaten. The sound of ball on metal summed up Madrid’s night: close, relentless, but somehow still level.
As the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes, the frustration boiled over into wastefulness. Mbappe, desperate to mark his league bow with a decisive moment, snatched at a half-volley that skewed embarrassingly toward the corner flag. It felt like a symbol of Real’s attacking struggles: big names, big chances, no finish.
Espanyol, disciplined and dogged, edged towards what looked like a fully earned point. The home fans sensed it, rising with every interception, every clearance. Madrid’s bench grew restless. Mourinho paced.
Then the script flipped in an instant.
In the first minute of added time, chaos in the box finally broke Espanyol’s resistance. Mbappe was crowded out as he tried to wriggle free, the ball spilling loose in the six-yard area. Espi, on as a substitute, reacted quicker than anyone, crashing his finish high into the net. One swing, one eruption from the away end, and a debut cameo he will carry with him for the rest of his career.
The late strike did more than steal three points. It extended Real Madrid’s remarkable run of avoiding defeat in their opening La Liga fixture to 18 straight seasons. For Jose Mourinho, it also preserved a personal streak that borders on obsession: seven consecutive victories in managerial debut matches.
The display showed the rough edges of a side still learning each other’s movements, still folding marquee arrivals into a demanding system. The result showed something else entirely. Mourinho, back in charge of a giant, has already found his old companion again: the ability to win when the clock says it’s almost too late.
