ShareIt was not smooth sailing, but Real Madrid were victorious in their first competitive game under Jose Mourinho since 2013, versus Espanyol.Carlos Espi was the hero on his Real Madrid debut as his 90th-minute goal clinched a 2-1 win over Espanyol in Los Blancos' first game back under Jose Mourinho's management.Mourinho's second stint in charge of the LaLiga giants looked set to start in underwhelming fashion, after Cala cancelled out Jude Bellingham's opener in the first half.But Espi – a €25m signing from Levante last month – came off the bench to stun what had been a lively crowd at the RCDE Stadium into silence, sweeping into an empty net after Kylian Mbappe prompted a scramble in the Espanyol area.Having been handed an additional post-World Cup rest period, Madrid are up and running with three points ahead of Barcelona getting their campaign under way on Sunday, away to Elche. Mourinho could hardly have asked for a better start to the campaign as Madrid went in front after nine minutes, via Bellingham's leaping header from Arda Guler's free-kick.Espanyol gradually grew into the game, however, and after captain Edu Exposito fired over on the swivel, they drew level on the half-hour mark. A patient, back-to-front move from the hosts culminated in Javi Hernandez sliding a low ball into Cala, who beat Thibaut Courtois on his left foot.Marko Dmitrovic had to stay alert to prevent Mbappe from sneaking a shot inside the near post, but Espanyol should have gone into half-time with the lead, after Roberto Fernandez miscued with a close-range header after some fine work from Omar El Hilali.Madrid came out motivated after the interval, with Dmitrovic denying Bellingham a near-identical goal to his opener, via a full-stretch save onto the crossbar, though Vinicius Junior was arguably fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for simulation soon afterwards.Visiting captain Federico Valverde was agonisingly close to restoring Madrid's lead when his side-footed effort from the edge of the area skipped across the turf and bounced off the outside of the post, but Mourinho did have a goal to celebrate with stoppage time looming.Mbappe bundled his way into the area and was challenged by Tyrhys Dolan, but Espi beat Dmitrovic to the loose ball and slotted into the empty net, prompting wild celebrations among those in white. Espi takes his chance as Mourinho makes winning startMadrid left it late, but they got the job done as Mourinho celebrated his fifth win over Espanyol in seven LaLiga meetings – with the other two matches being drawn, it is the most he has faced any team in the Spanish top flight without losing.And Mourinho will argue his team deserved to take all three points after racking up 2.92 expected goals from 21 shots, while limiting Espanyol to eight shots and 1.12 xG – the hosts only had one shot with an xG value of 0.09 after half-time.Bellingham's opener means he is the only player to have scored at least one headed goal in each of the last four seasons in LaLiga, though he seemed to be struggling with an ankle issue before being withdrawn in the 80th minute.But his replacement, Espi, more than proved his worth. The 21-year-old, who led all Levante players with 11 goals in LaLiga last season, tucked away his only chance – which had a game-high xG value of 0.75.Given Barca's dominance under Hansi Flick, Madrid could ill afford to drop points on matchday one, and they will hope to carry the momentum from this victory into Wednesday's clash with Real Sociedad. It was not smooth sailing, but Real Madrid were victorious in their first competitive game under Jose Mourinho since 2013, versus Espanyol.Carlos Espi was the hero on his Real Madrid debut as his 90th-minute goal clinched a 2-1 win over Espanyol in Los Blancos' first game back under Jose Mourinho's management.Mourinho's second stint in charge of the LaLiga giants looked set to start in underwhelming fashion, after Cala cancelled out Jude Bellingham's opener in the first half.But Espi – a €25m signing from Levante last month – came off the bench to stun what had been a lively crowd at the RCDE Stadium into silence, sweeping into an empty net after Kylian Mbappe prompted a scramble in the Espanyol area.Having been handed an additional post-World Cup rest period, Madrid are up and running with three points ahead of Barcelona getting their campaign under way on Sunday, away to Elche. Mourinho could hardly have asked for a better start to the campaign as Madrid went in front after nine minutes, via Bellingham's leaping header from Arda Guler's free-kick.Espanyol gradually grew into the game, however, and after captain Edu Exposito fired over on the swivel, they drew level on the half-hour mark. A patient, back-to-front move from the hosts culminated in Javi Hernandez sliding a low ball into Cala, who beat Thibaut Courtois on his left foot.Marko Dmitrovic had to stay alert to prevent Mbappe from sneaking a shot inside the near post, but Espanyol should have gone into half-time with the lead, after Roberto Fernandez miscued with a close-range header after some fine work from Omar El Hilali.Madrid came out motivated after the interval, with Dmitrovic denying Bellingham a near-identical goal to his opener, via a full-stretch save onto the crossbar, though Vinicius Junior was arguably fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for simulation soon afterwards.Visiting captain Federico Valverde was agonisingly close to restoring Madrid's lead when his side-footed effort from the edge of the area skipped across the turf and bounced off the outside of the post, but Mourinho did have a goal to celebrate with stoppage time looming.Mbappe bundled his way into the area and was challenged by Tyrhys Dolan, but Espi beat Dmitrovic to the loose ball and slotted into the empty net, prompting wild celebrations among those in white. Espi takes his chance as Mourinho makes winning startMadrid left it late, but they got the job done as Mourinho celebrated his fifth win over Espanyol in seven LaLiga meetings – with the other two matches being drawn, it is the most he has faced any team in the Spanish top flight without losing.And Mourinho will argue his team deserved to take all three points after racking up 2.92 expected goals from 21 shots, while limiting Espanyol to eight shots and 1.12 xG – the hosts only had one shot with an xG value of 0.09 after half-time.Bellingham's opener means he is the only player to have scored at least one headed goal in each of the last four seasons in LaLiga, though he seemed to be struggling with an ankle issue before being withdrawn in the 80th minute.But his replacement, Espi, more than proved his worth. The 21-year-old, who led all Levante players with 11 goals in LaLiga last season, tucked away his only chance – which had a game-high xG value of 0.75.Given Barca's dominance under Hansi Flick, Madrid could ill afford to drop points on matchday one, and they will hope to carry the momentum from this victory into Wednesday's clash with Real Sociedad.