He may not have wowed anyone, but he certainly did not deserve to have his mistakes picked apart under a microscope either. Reading the Spanish media, you get the impression that they are simply waiting for a poor performance or a slip-up in terms of the result before launching a full-scale barrage at Jose Mourinho. Even when Real win, it is not “good enough”. It is as if they need to win 10:0 in every match before the fans, the public and the journalists put down their weapons and stop criticising. Surely, every now and then, you can praise what the returning coach of the Spanish giants is doing, such as, for example, winning away at Elche on Matchday 6 of La Liga — 3:2.If there were complaints after the 4:1 win over Rayo last weekend, when every little detail was dissected to find out what was wrong, who knows what the ‘Special One’ will read after this game. Mourinho's fate is that he is being compared with Hansi Flick's Barcelona, who are scoring five goals game after game, and perhaps that is why these Madrid victories seem insufficient. As if this were rhythmic gymnastics, where artistic impression is judged rather than football, in which the result is the most important thing. Besides, if we are talking purely about the performance, the realistic score at the Manuel Martínez Valero should have been at least 5:2. That is how much better the visitors were, although in Alicante they had to beat Elche twice.Once, when they had a comfortable 2:0 lead and simply needed to see the game out. And again when Martín Anselmi's side rallied and levelled through goals from Osorio and Ferran Nino. But in the 87th minute, he sent Carlos Espí onto the pitch, and the Levante newcomer finished off a brilliant counter-attack in stoppage time to allow Real to head into Sunday's Madrid derby in a positive mood. Espí also scored on the opening day of the championship, away to Espanyol, and now he has emerged as the joker once again. The powerful striker did not just appear on the pitch by chance — someone had to believe in him, recognize what he could offer and give him an opportunity.##TWITTER_<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">90 – Carlos Espí lleva dos goles de la victoria a partir del minuto 90 en <a href="https://x.com/LaLiga?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LaLiga</a> 2026/27 (ante el Espanyol y ante el Elche).<br><br>Es el primer jugador de la competición que anota dos goles de este tipo esta temporada.<br><br>Rematador ⚽. <a href="https://t.co/fIggcKIuWc">pic.twitter.com/fIggcKIuWc</a></p>— OptaJose (@OptaJose) <a href="https://x.com/OptaJose/status/2099975557630861692?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 15, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>##We can divide the match into three segments. In the first, Real dominated. They were dominant, energetic and assured… They were practically flying across the pitch, and the consequence of that approach was a series of excellent moves and spectacular goals. First came a free-kick inspired by Arda Guler, after which the ball ricocheted off Matías Dituro's body and into the net, with the goal officially recorded as an own goal by the Argentine goalkeeper. Then came the finish from the ruthless Kylian Mbappe, who already has seven goals this season and is the competition's leading scorer.##LINKED_NEWS_68907##Such a confident Real side had several more outstanding opportunities to score a third, but partly because of Vinícius' lack of concentration and partly because of Elche's defending, the hosts refused to “die”. The second segment was Elche's surge after they realised that Real had, just as against Rayo Vallecano, dropped deeper and were waiting for opportunities to score on the counter-attack. The visitors were unable to make it work, but Anselmi's team, relying on their starting striker (Osorio) and substitute forward (Nino), managed to turn the game into a tense finale and perhaps saw a chance to complete the comeback. And then came Mourinho's reaction and the introduction of Carlos Espí who scored the winner in injury time.LA LIGA – MATCHDAY 6Thursday 03.09.Real Sociedad – Celta 0-0TuesdayRayo Vallecano – Espanyol 2-1 (2-0)/Garcia 3, Pedrosa 26 – Fernandez 54/Alaves – Valencia 0-1 (0-0)/Rioja 78/Elche – Real Madrid 2-3 (0-2)/Osorio 71, Nuno 83 – Dituro 25 og , Mbappe 33, Espi 90+1/Wednesday20.00: (1.43) Atl.Madrid (4.50) Osasuna (7.50)20.00: (2.50) La Coruna (3.15) Sevilla (3.00)22.30: (1.07) Barcelona (13.0) Santander (25.0)22.30: (3.40) Levante (3.40) Ath.Bilbao (2.15)Thursday20.00: (1.75) Betis (3.50) Getafe (5.00)22.30: (3.80) Malaga (3.50) Villareal (1.97)***odds are subject to change***##SOFASCORE_<iframe id="sofa-standings-embed-36-97268" src="https://widgets.sofascore.com/embed/tournament/36/season/97268/standings?widgetTitle=LaLiga&showCompetitionLogo=true&widgetTheme=light" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%!important; height:1123px!important;max-width:768px!important;"></iframe><div style="font-size:12px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;text-align:left"> Standings provided by <a target="_blank" href="https://sofascore.com/">Sofascore</a> </div>##