Roma 3-4 Real Madrid: Rudiger completes seven-minute corner comeback as Gasperini laments collapse

Roma 3-4 Real Madrid

Roma seemed to be heading for a famous victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League, but Jose Mourinho’s men had other ideas. Antonio Rudiger and Jose Mourinho came back to haunt Roma as Real Madrid scored three goals in seven minutes late on to claim a thrilling 4-3 Champions League win at Stadio Olimpico.

Los Blancos were trailing 3-1 before Carlos Espi struck in the 83rd minute. From there, Endrick and former Roma defender Rudiger completely flipped the script as Mourinho got one over on his old club.

How Roma built the lead

Roma, encouraged by a roaring home crowd, made a fast start as Matias Soule curled narrowly wide after just 48 seconds before Mario Hermoso’s curling effort was tipped away by Thibaut Courtois at full stretch. Paulo Dybala poked wide from Nahuel Molina’s cutback, and though Roma received a blow when Manu Kone was forced off with an injury, they took a deserved lead when Marten de Roon’s first-time strike from outside the box was deflected past Courtois in the 20th minute.

Madrid equalised against the run of play as Kylian Mbappe, on his 100th Champions League appearance, capitalised on an error from Mario Hermoso before lashing past Pierluigi Gollini, bringing up his 500th goal involvement in club football in the process (378 goals, 122 assists). Jude Bellingham missed a huge opportunity before half-time, sweeping past the right post, and it looked to be costly when Donyell Malen scored twice in six second-half minutes; he first beat Courtois at the near post after a brilliant pass from Rodrigo Mora, while his second was a routine finish following a clever pass from Soule.

Seven-minute collapse from corners

Mbappe had a goal disallowed after the hour-mark, but substitutes Espi and Endrick swung the tide. Endrick’s initial header from a corner was kept out by Gollini, but Espi was on hand to tap in the rebound. Roma were undone again two minutes later when Endrick headed in unchallenged from Arda Guler’s corner, and Rudiger had the final say as he volleyed past Gollini in the 90th minute.

Endrick stakes his claim as Mbappe breaks Messi record. Mourinho was asked about Endrick’s lack of minutes in his pre-match press conference and the Portuguese insisted the youngster has a bright future at the club, which was perhaps proven by this cameo. The Brazilian’s two shots proved crucial, with the first leading to Espi’s goal and the quickfire second giving Madrid hope of snatching all three points rather than settling for just a point.

While Endrick, Espi and Rudiger will take most of the headlines, it was another substitute in Guler who was the unsung hero. His two assists were crucial as his pinpoint crossing proved to be the difference in the end. Only Lamine Yamal (40), Michael Olise (36) and Florian Thauvin (33) have created more chances in Europe’s top five leagues this season than Guler (31), who will surely regain his starting position in Mourinho’s team now.

Gasperini: we were outclassed until the corners

Gian Piero Gasperini hit out after the defeat, insisting Real Madrid ‘were outclassed’ by Roma until those three goals from corners. ‘We were far too passive, there is huge regret.’

‘They had taken corners in the first half too, but in the final minutes it was as if we were paralysed with fear on those corners, they scored too easily,’ Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia and Amazon Prime Video Italia. ‘There is huge regret, because a game played like that should not have ended with that epilogue.’

Real Madrid had just one shot on target in the entire first half and it was the Kylian Mbappé goal, whereas Thibaut Courtois was forced into several saves. ‘We have to build on the positives, so even if this defeat weighs heavily, we need to shake it off quickly, otherwise we risk cancelling out all the good things we saw in this match,’ insisted the coach. ‘It is so hard to accept, but Roma certainly did some very good things, which we ruined at the end. Quite beyond Real Madrid’s capabilities on set plays, we were far too passive, and that is a pity.’

Jose Mourinho said to the media after the final whistle that Roma were ‘dead’ in the closing stages, but Gasperini took offence. ‘If there was a team that looked like it had run out of steam, it was Real Madrid. We outclassed them in everything, they scored only on corners, but other than that we were certainly up to the task. It’s true we have to learn how to see games through to the end, those final minutes were decisive. We’ve got to build on our style of play and work on the negatives.’

The night had more problems for Gasperini, because Manu Koné went off in tears after just 17 minutes with a fresh injury, then Paulo Dybala had to be replaced at half-time with a muscular issue. They were already missing Mile Svilar with a fractured toe and Bryan Cristante thanks to that knee injury. ‘Koné is certainly a muscular problem, Dybala felt the soleus muscle harden, so we have to wait and see. The Koné injury is certainly worse, that is a strain. You run the risk of injuries when playing at this level, but we had recovered well,’ confirmed Gasperini.

Roma now have one point from two Champions League games, as they held Fenerbahce to a 1-1 draw in Turkiye.