Jose Mourinho claimed that only Real Madrid would have been able to win the way they won against AEK Athens on Wednesday night.
In the press conference after the match, Mourinho was asked about the win and the way in which Real Madrid ended up winning, which did not really look too comfortable, but it was more dramatic and surreal.
To that, Mourinho said: "Of course, I prefer to win more comfortably, but these games are won in the final minutes. Only we can win them. We are always in the right place when it matters, and if we do it, it is because we all feel we can. The players have courage. I am lucky. I'm very lucky to have players of this quality. Very lucky."
Real Madrid are the kings of the Champions League
Mourinho is right, and there are statistics to prove exactly that. According to Fran Martinez, Real Madrid have scored more stoppage-time goals than any other club in European history. They have scored 49 goals in the 90th minute or later, and it does not even include extra time. That, ladies and gentlemen, is absolutely insane.
Real Madrid have shown that there is so much that this team can achieve if they are able to lock in and play as a team together. In the last couple of seasons, it does not look like Real Madrid have wanted to do that, but things have been slowly changing. Even beyond those bad seasons, Real Madrid have always pulled off incredible comebacks in the last few minutes of the game.
Look at any Carlo Ancelotti game from the 2021-22 season, and you would know exactly what the author is talking about. Even some games in the 2023-24 season were incredible, especially the one against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Real Madrid simply have that mentality and the courage to try when no one wants to try - and nobody in Europe wants to admit that. These are the games that bring out the best in the absolute best players in the world. Day after day, night after night, Real Madrid show that they have many of those in their squad.
Obviously, there are some games where they are not able to mount a huge comeback like they did on Wednesday night, but the fact of the matter is that Real Madrid absolutely are the kings of this competition. More often than not, they prove exactly that by winning in the most unlikely of scenarios. There is a reason why people say that you can never count them out of any game, and even when it does not look like they can win comfortably or that they're playing well, they always seem to pull something like this out of the bag and prove that this team is just different.
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