Bellingham Breaks Casillas Record In Madrid Win

How to watch: AEK Athens vs Real Madrid, Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at Allwyn Arena, Athens
Stream: DAZN (Canada)

Bellingham Youngest To 60 Champions League Appearances

Bellingham started the match at 23 years and 128 days old, and that start alone rewrote the record book. UEFA’s own list of the youngest players to reach each appearance milestone had Iker Casillas at the top of the 60-game chart, set at 23 years and 167 days in November 2004. Bellingham beat the former Madrid goalkeeper’s mark by 39 days, one year after he had taken the 50-appearance record from the same man, reaching that mark at 22 years and 128 days against Liverpool in November 2025.

The 60 games are split between two clubs: 23 for Borussia Dortmund, where he debuted in the competition at 17, and 37 for Real Madrid. Across them he has 16 goals and 14 assists, and the 60th was one of his best. AEK led through Aboubakary Koita, and Bellingham first had a backheeled finish ruled out for offside after a video review. Minutes later he did it again, guiding Marc Cucurella’s powerful low cross into the far corner with his heel in the 32nd minute for his first Champions League goal of the season.

Jose Mourinho, his manager, was direct afterward. “He’s a unique player. There’s no other midfielder in the world like him, so complete in every aspect,” Mourinho said. “I’m at a loss for words, because for me he’s absolutely extraordinary. And even when he’s not having a good day, he always delivers hard work, leadership, ambition, quality, attacking runs, goals.”

AEK Twice Lead, Madrid Twice Answer

AEK, backed by a loud home crowd at Allwyn Arena, struck first after 12 minutes. Former Madrid striker Luka Jovic laid the ball off to Koita, who skipped past Cucurella and beat Thibaut Courtois at his near post. Bellingham’s equaliser sent the sides in level at half-time, but AEK were not finished. With 15 minutes left, Koita turned provider and Stavros Pilios finished through Courtois’s legs to restore the lead and put Madrid’s perfect start in real danger.

The second lead lasted three minutes. Denzel Dumfries centred from the right and Kylian Mbappe arrived to tap in the equaliser in the 78th minute, scoring in a sixth straight Champions League appearance. Mbappe then hit the crossbar as Madrid pushed for a winner, and AEK’s seven-match winning run at home was suddenly hanging by a thread.

Valverde Settles It In The 92nd Minute

Valverde had come off the bench in the 67th minute, and the substitute decided the match with his only shot of the night. He created a team-high three chances in his time on the pitch, and in the 92nd minute Brahim Diaz picked him out and Valverde drove the ball into the top corner from 25 yards, beyond goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli. The goal was Madrid’s 49th in stoppage time in the Champions League, the most any club has scored in the history of the competition, and it completed another late comeback for Mourinho’s side, who scored three goals in the last 10 minutes to beat Roma 4-3 last month.

“It was a very tough and complicated match, just as we expected,” Valverde said. “I think we imposed our control, but we had difficulty in creating chances. I’d like to congratulate the team on their efforts and hard work; let’s continue working in this manner.” Koita’s night ended early, with a red card for dissent in the 95th minute, and Mourinho pointed to his team’s refusal to settle for a point: “When the score was 2-2, we didn’t accept it. That would always be an acceptable result, because it would have put us in with 10 points, but we wanted more, we took risks, and we got the points that now qualify us for the play-offs.”

What The Win Means For Both Clubs

The win makes it four wins from four for Madrid in the league phase and seven straight victories in all competitions, and Mourinho said the 12 points have already qualified his team for the play-offs, with the target now the points needed to skip that round entirely. Madrid return to La Liga at home to Valencia on Saturday. AEK stay on three points from four matches, 30th in the league phase table, but a performance that twice put the 15-time European champions behind gives the Greek side a level to build on in the second half of the league phase.

For Bellingham, the night added a line to a record list he keeps rewriting: youngest to 50 Champions League appearances last year, youngest to 60 this year, and a backheel goal on the night he did it. The next mark on UEFA’s list is 70 appearances, held by Casillas at 24 years and 277 days. On the pace Bellingham has set since he was 17, that record is living on borrowed time too.