Debutant Espi gives Mourinho winning Real Madrid return

New signing Carlos Espi scores a late winner as Jose Mourinho begins his Real Madrid return with a win at Espanyol

Jose Mourinho's first competitive match of his second spell as Real Madrid manager ended with a thrilling 90th-minute winner from his side at Espanyol. The visitors took the lead in the ninth minute when England midfielder Jude Bellingham headed in Arda Guler's wide free-kick. But Espanyol levelled in the 30th minute through summer signing Cala, who tapped in Javi Hernandez's cut-back at the far post.

Real dominated for much of the encounter and twice hit the woodwork before their dramatic late winner from debutant Carlos Espi. Bellingham had another powerful header tipped on to the bar by Espanyol keeper Marko Dmitrovic, while Federico Valverde's curling effort hit the base of the post. But the Spanish giants brought on talent from the bench to change the outcome, including summer signings Espi, Marc Cucurella, Yan Diomande - Real's record signing from RB Leipzig in a deal worth up to £120m - and England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Espi, who joined from Levante for £21m, struck after Diomande had found Kylian Mbappe in the box and the ball fell invitingly for the Spanish forward to calmly finish. After being frustrated by his side's inability to break down the hosts, the victory delighted Mourinho, who was named Real manager on a three-year deal in July, and started new signings Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate and Bernardo Silva.

His previous spell began in 2010 and lasted three seasons, yielding a La Liga title, the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. The 63-year-old Mourinho has won 26 major official trophies across his managerial career, including three Premier League titles with Chelsea and Champions League titles at both Porto and Inter Milan.

Real have failed to win a trophy in their past two seasons and parted ways with Xabi Alonso in January, before Alvaro Arbeloa led them through to the end of the campaign in a temporary spell.