A seven-minute stretch saved a weak Real Madrid team from a humbling UCL crash

ROME -- On an exhilarating night at the Stadio Olimpico, Real Madrid left it very, very late. At 3-1 down to AS Roma, with the clock ticking, José Mourinho's team were facing another, humbling defeat -- this time in the Champions League. It would have been a loss that raised more questions about Madrid's trophy-winning prospects this season, and about Mourinho's long-term future at the club he took over four months ago. But then, Mourinho responded, and so did his team. Seven, explosive minutes changed the narrative. At the hour mark, Mourinho sent in Endrick and Arda Güler as substitutions to make the difference, and 18 minutes later, he threw on Carlos Espí. Those three substitutes were involved in all three of Real Madrid's late goals, turning the game around, and allowing Mourinho to leave his former home with his head held high. First Espí -- who often looks like Madrid's most productive forward in the minutes he's given -- pounced to make it 3-2 in the 82nd minute. The chance was made by Endrick, who was electric. It only took half an hour for the Brazilian to be rightly named the game's MVP by UEFA. Endrick changed the game's dynamic entirely, and two minutes after creating Espí's goal, his own header made it 3-3. Both goals had come from corners. Roma couldn't deal with Güler's deliveries, and Madrid's aerial threat. In the 90th minute, another Güler cross allowed Antonio Rüdiger to make it 3-4. Güler ended the night with two assists. You can make a pretty convincing argument that he's Madrid's most important player. With performances like this, he's making himself undroppable. This comeback was vintage Real Madrid in Europe. By the time Rudiger's header hit the net in added time, they felt unstoppable, and Roma were in full collapse. By then, it was all too easy to forget just how poor Madrid had looked for most of the night. Even if Madrid's seven-minute comeback was stirring, the stretch that preceded it was deeply concerning for fans who have their eyes on a Clásico with Barcelona at Camp Nou later this month. Roma aren't Barça. But for long spells on Wednesday, Gian Piero Gasperini's side were much too good for Madrid. All over the pitch, Mourinho's team looked vulnerable: their defence porous as Donyell Malen scored twice after halftime, their midfield absent and underpowered throughout, and one of their biggest names, Vinícius Júnior, was anonymous, barring when he gave the ball away for Malen's first goal. Until that late rally, Mourinho stood, exasperated and seemingly ineffective, on the touchline. Rome is full of relics and ruins. As Madrid were humbled in the first hour, Mourinho and his team felt the same. It was a performance that gave more weight to the theory that Mourinho's imperial phase is long in the past -- that what we are seeing now is just the remnants, like the remaining walls of a Roman temple. That first hour was alarming. Mourinho had picked a team to go full counter-attack, with Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Yan Diomande joining Vinicius in the front four. Facing a four-game suspension in LaLiga, Vinicius needs to do his talking in the Champions League. But by the time he was substituted in the 59th minute, he had had just 22 touches. The only player with fewer was Roma's Manu Koné, and he'd gone off injured after 17 minutes. At the final whistle as his teammates celebrated an unlikely win, Vinicius was the first Madrid player to disappear down the tunnel. On the other wing, Diomande had three times as many touches as Vinicius. This as only Diomande's fourth start, and he still looks raw, too often carrying the ball into trouble. In midfield, Mourinho continues to pick Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni as his double pivot, despite years of evidence that they are unable to provide Madrid with the necessary control to dictate play. By the time Madrid's comeback started, Tchouameni had been subbed off, and Valverde was back at right-back. It as Güler who was running the show. The defence featured three of Madrid's summer signings, in Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries. But the collective defending was woeful. Roma created three 'big chances', two of which were scored by Malen, one-on-one with an exposed Thibaut Courtois. Then came Mourinho's substitutions, and a turnaround to rival any of Madrid's European comebacks in drama and spectacle. Mourinho left Roma in January 2024, but he's still a hero to the club's fans. "Whoever brings glory to Rome, Rome will honor him forever," the banner held up by the Curva Sud early in the first half said, accompanied by three images of Mourinho, one of them lifting the 2022 Conference League. They managed to overlook back-to-back sixth-placed finishes in Serie A -- but Mourinho won them over, anyway. How? "By being myself," he said on Tuesday. "We didn't win the Champions League, but we won a European competition, and we got to the final of another." At Real Madrid, the goal is the Champions League, always. This was a performance that, for 83 minutes, made that target feel very far away, until, for seven minutes, it felt like it might, somehow, be almost within reach again.