Real Madrid needed stoppage time to beat a team it should have put away by halftime. Elche led twice at the Martínez Valero on Tuesday before Carlos Espí scored in the fourth minute of injury time, the goal built on a Jude Bellingham run and a Kylian Mbappé assist, to hand Madrid a 3-2 win that keeps Xabi Alonso's side unbeaten but nowhere near comfortable. Mbappé did not need to score to be the reason Madrid escaped with the points. That is the part of his transfer that never shows up in a highlight package.

Madrid paid Paris Saint-Germain nothing in a fee two summers ago and instead handed Mbappé wages that reportedly touch nine figures over the life of his contract, betting that a free agent at peak value beats a market fee for anyone else on the planet. Elche away, a fixture Madrid have historically strolled through, is exactly the low-glamour night that bet has to keep paying off on, not just the Champions League final. Bellingham supplies the vision, Mbappé supplies the finish or the pass that sets it up, and LaLiga keeps getting decided in the ninety-fourth minute because the team with the most expensive attack in Spain still has to defend like everyone else. Real Madrid bought a superstar. Tuesday night, Elche made them earn it.