Real Madrid shipped another early away goal in the UEFA Champions League, this time off Arab feet, and their travel woes deepened once more.
Just 12 minutes had gone when the Royal side fell behind to hosts AEK Athens of Greece on Wednesday evening, in the fourth round of the league phase.
Picking up a pass from former Real Madrid star Luka Jovic on the edge of the penalty area, Mauritania's Aboubakary Koita, 28, unleashed a rocket that nestled in the left corner of Thibaut Courtois's net.
Opta note that Koita became the first Mauritanian player to score in UEFA Champions League history, and only the second to feature in the competition, after Jordan Lefort, who turned out for Young Boys in the 2021-2022 edition.
Figures from French outlet Stats du Foot lay bare the problem: this is the eighth goal Real Madrid have conceded in their last three away games in the continental competition.
Roma had put three past them in the second round of the current season, in a 4-3 defeat, and before that Bayern Munich scored four in the quarter-final second leg last season, a 3-4 loss.