AEK Athens 2-3 Real Madrid: Madrid's Perfect Record Survives Another Late Escape

Real Madrid left Athens with a 3-2 win and a perfect Champions League league-phase record of four wins from four. They also left having trailed twice, having needed a goal in the 90th+2nd minute from their captain, and having conceded twice to a side that sits on three points. The result is the headline. The pattern is the story.

Aboubakary Koïta put AEK ahead in the 12th minute. Jude Bellingham equalised in the 32nd. Stavros Pilios restored the lead in the 75th. Kylian Mbappé levelled in the 78th. Federico Valverde, who began the match on the bench with Denzel Dumfries starting in his place, won it in stoppage time. It was Madrid's second successive dramatic European away comeback, after a 4-3 win at Roma in which they had trailed 3-1 with seven minutes left.

Madrid dominated the ball — 70 per cent possession to AEK's 30 — and the shot count, 24 to nine. They had eight shots on target to AEK's five, and seven corners to none. Their expected goals figure was 3.35; AEK's was 0.87. By chance quality, this was not close.

Yet AEK scored twice from three big chances, while Madrid managed two big chances of their own. The hosts' goals came against the run of chance creation, and their finishing ran 1.13 goals above their expected goals for the match. Across their earlier 2026/27 matches, that figure averaged 0.0. One match is not a trend, but it is the difference between a comfortable Madrid win and a stoppage-time escape.

AEK's broader numbers were down across the board. Their 30 per cent possession was well below their 51.8 average. Their 14 touches in the opposition box were down from 23.6. Their 0.87 expected goals was less than half their 1.87 average. They also failed to win a single corner, against an average of 5.6. This was not AEK at their best — and they still twice led.

José Mourinho's side have now won four from four, but the manner of the last two away wins invites scrutiny. Against Roma they trailed 3-1 with seven minutes left. Here they trailed with 15 minutes left and again with 12.

Vinícius Júnior returned to the line-up after a domestic ban, and Dumfries filled in on the right side of defence. Whether those changes disrupted Madrid's defensive shape is a question the next matches will answer. What is clear is that a side with 70 per cent of the ball and 3.35 expected goals should not need a 90th-minute goal to beat a team with three points.

For AEK, the defeat leaves them on three points from four. They had won all of their home fixtures this season by a combined score of 30-1 before this match. They created less than usual, held the ball less than usual, and still scored twice against the competition's most successful side. Whether that performance can be converted into points in the remaining league-phase fixtures is the question their season now turns on.

Madrid's record is perfect. Their defending, on this evidence, is not.