Federico Valverde lashed home a stunning effort from distance to snatch Real Madrid a late 3-2 victory at AEK Athens on Wednesday in the Champions League and preserve their 100 per cent start.\n<\/p>\n
Jose Mourinho\u2019s side twice came from behind against the Greek champions before Valverde claimed all three points for his side, level with holders Paris Saint-Germain on four wins from four league phase games.\n<\/p>\n
Aboubakary Koita sent AEK ahead after 12 minutes, and Jude Bellingham equalised with a sublime flick for the record 15-time winners.\n<\/p>\n
Stavros Pilios sent the Greek champions ahead with 15 minutes to go, but Kylian Mbappe swiftly pulled Madrid level once again, setting the stage for Valverde\u2019s late winner.<\/p>\n
Madrid have now won seven straight games across all competitions.\n<\/p>\n
Mourinho started with Vinicius Junior on the left flank, after he missed the team\u2019s previous two matches through suspension in La Liga.\n<\/p>\n
The hosts started with huge energy at the Agia Sophia stadium, and it was not overly surprising when they took an early lead.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved well from former Los Blancos striker Luka Jovic before Koita sent AEK ahead.<\/p>\n
The Mauritanian winger shifted cleverly inside Marc Cucurella and thumped home at the near post, catching out Courtois.\n<\/p>\n
The Belgian goalkeeper saved again from Jovic as AEK tried to make their strong start count.\n<\/p>\n
However, they inevitably began to tire, and Madrid began to take the reins in the Greek capital.\n<\/p>\n
Kylian Mbappe fired over, and Bellingham netted from close range but was shown to be offside. Moments later the England international scored again, and nobody could deny him this one. <\/p>\n
Cucurella fired in a low cross, and Bellingham produced a brilliant flicked finish to beat goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli.\n<\/p>\n
Former Chelsea defender Cucurella tested Brignoli, and Bernardo Silva nodded off-target before the interval as Mourinho\u2019s team controlled the game.<\/p>\n
Brignoli pushed away Eder Militao\u2019s long-range effort early in the second half, and Lazaros Rota blocked superbly to deny the heavily involved Cucurella.\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 Another fightback \u2013<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Mbappe bent a shot narrowly wide of the top corner with Italian stopper Brignoli at full stretch.\n<\/p>\n The France forward was frustrated by the AEK defence when Vinicius turned sharply and found him with a high pass, but the striker\u2019s shot was blocked.\n<\/p>\n AEK reclaimed the lead in the 75th minute when the impressive Koita gently nudged the ball into Pilios\u2019s path and the Albania international finished through Courtois\u2019s legs from close range.\n<\/p>\n Madrid immediately responded with Bellingham playing Denzel Dumfries down the right. The Netherlands defender rolled a low ball across the six-yard box, and this time Mbappe was able to finish.\n<\/p>\n It was Mbappe\u2019s fourth goal in four Champions League games this season, netting once in each, and his 16th across all competitions.<\/p>\n Madrid substitute Endrick sent Mbappe through on goal with five minutes remaining, but Brignoli produced a sensational save to tip his strike against the crossbar.\n<\/p>\n Valverde refused to give up on the three points and in the 92nd minute, he lashed home across Brignoli to keep Madrid perfect.\n<\/p>\n AFP\n <\/p>\n Source: <\/p>\n Federico Valverde lashed home a stunning effort from distance to snatch Real Madrid a late 3-2 victory at AEK Athens on Wednesday in the Champions League and preserve their 100… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}