Major mistakes by the Portuguese coach

Jose Mourinho nearly undid his own side's winning run with a string of errors, before Federico Valverde came to the rescue of the Real Madrid boss.

Real Madrid edged their Greek hosts AEK Athens 3-2 on Wednesday evening at the Agia Sofia Stadium, in the fourth round of the Champions League league phase.

Real Madrid's winning streak

Real Madrid have now won seven in a row this season, a run stretching back to the 1-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league on 20 September.

Four straight Champions League wins lift the Royal Club into second place in the league phase on 12 points, level with holders Paris Saint-Germain and separated only by goal difference.

No Spanish side had managed it before. Real became the first to win their opening four Champions League matches since the league phase was introduced in 2024-2025.

Vinícius Júnior: Mourinho's greatest sin

Mourinho nearly threw away all those gains with a series of errors during the clash with the Greek side, chief among them a call involving Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior.

It started with Vinicius returning to the starting line-up on the left wing, even though the team had looked sharper without him in recent matches.

The real problem ran deeper. Vinicius's inclusion pushed Ivorian Yan Diomande out to the right, despite his outstanding form on the left flank of late.

Madrid's attack duly fell apart on both wings. Vinicius offered nothing to justify his place on the left, while Diomande never found his best level on the right.

The strangest substitution

Strangest of all, the Portuguese coach insisted on keeping Vinicius on the pitch for as long as possible, at the expense of Yan Diomande.

When Mourinho finally moved to solve the attacking crisis, he took off Diomande and brought on Endrick in his place to fix the right flank, leaving the left in Vinicius' hands in the hope that he would wake up.

One change could have sorted both flanks. The "Special One" should have thrown on Endrick for Vinicius himself and pushed Diomande back to his preferred role on the left.

Decrepit defence

Mourinho's mistakes didn't stop at the attacking end. He got it wrong defensively too, choosing to change three of the four players who had started the last La Liga match against Racing.

The Portuguese coach handed Denzel Dumfries the right flank ahead of Alexander-Arnold, but the riskier call was dropping centre-backs Dean Huijsen and Ibrahima Konaté for the pairing of Éder Militão and Antonio Rüdiger.

For Real Madrid's fans, that partnership dredged up bad memories from last season and the start of this one, a run of catastrophic errors that nearly sank the team.

Güler crisis

The biggest crisis Mourinho may face with Real Madrid in the coming matches could be finding an alternative capable of linking the team's lines and controlling its tempo, the way Turkish star Arda Guler does.

Mourinho chose to rest Guler against the Greek side. He found no alternative able to fill the same role, and Real Madrid lost their balance at many moments during the match.

True, Portuguese star Bernardo Silva might be capable of that job. He failed to deliver it in that match, though, which raises doubts over whether he can manage it in the games ahead.