2 winners and 1 loser from Real Madrid's late win against Stuttgart

Real Madrid needed two late goals to see off the threat of Stuttgart in a 3-1 win in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

The Bundesliga side played without fear on their trip to the Spanish capital and were a little unfortunate not to have come away with at least a point.

But the reigning kings of Europe did what they always do in the Champions League, soaking up pressure and conjuring up magic late on to open the new league phase with three points.

Here are our picks for winners and losers from the Santiago Bernabeu...

Winners

Endrick

A lot of expectation has been placed on the shoulders of 18-year-old Endrick, whose lack of top-level experience was hammered home while on international duty with supposedly one of the worst Brazil teams in a generation.

But Madrid wouldn't have signed the young striker if they didn't believe he had the mentality to handle that pressure and fulfil his potential.

Endrick (or 'Bobby' to his teammates) scored after coming off the bench once more, and this one was a real peach. With Madrid 2-1 up and Stuttgart piling every man forward in search of an equaliser, the hosts launched a quick counter attack that ended with their number 16 striking home from all of 25 yards, with the ball delightfully skidding along the turf the whole way.

Years from now, we'll look back at that as the first of many Champions League goals for Endrick.

Rodrygo

The talk of Rodrygo's Ballon d'Or snub had been countered with his slow start to the 2024/25 season.

Madrid would have refuted claims he needed some sort of match-winning performance to snap back at those critics, but it's probably for the best that he was the catalyst for victory on a Champions League night anyway.

Rodrygo came up with the selfless assist for Kylian Mbappe at the start of the second half to turn the tide in Los Blancos' favour having gone into the break a tad lucky to have been on level terms.

Loser

Real Madrid's full-backs

Madrid, as a club, have excelled at finding a balance to keep their superstars in line and successfully pursuing glory.

It's perhaps the biggest red flag against their pursuits of attacking full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alphonso Davies in 2025, but this game was a nice reminder of how their upside outweigh the drawbacks.

Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy were roasted time after time by Stuttgart's array of forwards. Both of them were hooked, with the former even coming off at the break.

Notably, Mendy is in line for a new contract, but that doesn't mean his place in the side is assured.

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