Real Madrid were 3-1 down at the Olimpico with eight minutes left and won 4-3. All three late goals came from corners, inside seven minutes. According to Opta, no away side has ever been two goals down so late in a Champions League game and still won.
It was José Mourinho's first match back at Roma, where he won the Conference League. The Olimpico applauded when his name was read out, and he blew a kiss to the crowd at full time.
Roma on top
Roma lost Manu Koné to a thigh injury after 17 minutes, and he left in tears. They went ahead three minutes later. Matías Soulé set up Marten de Roon, who scored from outside the box. Kylian Mbappé replied on 25 with his own shot from distance, after Yan Diomande headed the ball into his path. It was Mbappé's 100th Champions League appearance; at 27 he is the youngest player to reach that mark.
Gian Piero Gasperini took off Paulo Dybala at half-time and sent on Rodrigo Mora, and Roma took control. On 51 minutes Mora set up Donyell Malen, who scored from the left of the box. Six minutes later Soulé sent Malen through on the break and he scored again. The flag went up for offside, and VAR overturned it.
On 59 minutes Mourinho took off Vinícius Júnior, playing in Europe while serving a four-game domestic ban for his red card against Villarreal, and Denzel Dumfries. Endrick and Arda Güler came on. Mbappé then had a second goal ruled out for a clear offside.
Seven minutes
Carlos Espí came on with 12 minutes left. On 83, after a corner, Pierluigi Gollini saved Endrick's header and Espí turned in the rebound. The flag went up again, and VAR gave the goal. It was the 21-year-old's first Champions League goal, after a winner at Espanyol on his league debut in August.
Two minutes later Güler swung in a corner and Endrick headed it into the bottom left corner. On 90 minutes Güler did it again, and Antonio Rüdiger, who played for Roma between 2015 and 2017, finished from close range at the near post. He did not celebrate.
Endrick was named man of the match.
Mourinho
"You can say it was two games in one, Roma were superior in every aspect for the first, and then Real Madrid were impossible to stop during that 20 minutes," Mourinho told Prime Video. "After going 3-1 down, perhaps everyone thought the game was dead, but the only ones who were dead were the Roma players."
"We made some changes, because conceding three, four or five doesn't make much difference."
Asked about his gesture at the end: "Nothing, we won and I was celebrating. I have the utmost respect for Roma." On Endrick, who has been linked with a loan away: "It's impossible because I know his talent and what he can give."
Gasperini
"We outclassed them in everything, they scored only on corners," Gasperini said. "In the final minutes it was as if we were paralysed with fear on those corners, they scored too easily. There is huge regret, because a game played like that should not have ended with that epilogue."
"If there was a team that looked like it had run out of steam, it was Real Madrid."
Espí
"Locura máxima," Espí said. Total madness. "Yo he venido aquí para aprovechar los minutos." I came here to make the most of my minutes. Mourinho's instruction, he said, was simple: "Que saliera, que diera el máximo, quedaban 10 o 15 minutos, ayudar al equipo como sea." Go on, give everything, there are 10 or 15 minutes left, help the team however you can.
The table
Madrid beat Inter 2-1 on the opening night and have six points from two games. This is their fifth European Cup win after trailing by two or more goals, more than any other club. Roma drew with Fenerbahçe in their first game and have one point.
Next is Sevilla at home this weekend, then Leipzig in the Champions League and the Clásico at Camp Nou on 25 October, with Vinícius suspended for the league games.
