Real Madrid beat Espanyol 2-1 in Jose Mourinho’s first game on return

BREAKING: Real Madrid win 2-1 at Espanyol on Jose Mourinho's return to the club, with new signing Carlos Espi firing a 90th-minute winner after Jude Bellingham's opener.

Jose Mourinho waited thirteen years for this, and it took until the ninetieth minute.

Real Madrid, two one at Espanyol, and the winner came from Carlos Espi, the cheapest and least glamorous of all their summer signings. A former Levante striker, on as a sub, pouncing on a loose ball in the box while Mbappe and Vinicius watched. Football writes better scripts than I do.

Jude Bellingham opened it, heading in Arda Guler's free kick, and you can see how hard-fought this one was. Alex Calatrava levelled for Espanyol on the half hour, and Madrid spent an hour chasing it. Mourinho threw on record signing Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella, Valverde clipped the post, and then Espi settled it at the death.

So the special one is back with three points and a dressing room to tame. The chaos of last season is his to fix, and Barcelona are the champions he's been hired to knock over. Night one, job done, barely.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.