AEK Athens 2-3 Real Madrid: Valverde settles it late
Federico Valverde struck in the 90th minute as Real Madrid twice came from behind to beat AEK Athens 2-3 in the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid twice recover to win in Athens
Real Madrid beat AEK Athens 2-3 at the Allwyn Arena on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, in Round 4 of the UEFA Champions League. The visitors had to come from behind twice before Federico Valverde settled the match in the 90th minute.
AEK Athens took the lead through Aboubakary Koita in the 12th minute, and Jude Bellingham equalised in the 32nd. Stavros Pilios put the home side back in front in the 75th minute, but Kylian Mbappé levelled three minutes later in the 78th to set up a tense finish.
Key moments
Kervin Arriaga was booked for AEK Athens in the 34th minute, shortly after Bellingham's equaliser. On the Real Madrid side, Marc Cucurella received a yellow card in the 65th minute.
The 90th minute decided the match on both fronts. Valverde scored the winner for Real Madrid, and Koita, who had opened the scoring, was shown a red card for AEK Athens.
What it means
Real Madrid are second in the 36-team table with a perfect record of four wins from four matches and 12 points. They have scored 13 goals and conceded 7.
AEK Athens remain 29th of 36 with 3 points from four games, having won one and lost three. They have scored 5 goals and conceded 11 so far in the competition.
This article was written with automation from verified sports data and checked against that data before publishing. How we work
