Luka Jović faces Real Madrid today, November 4, 2026, as the most recognizable name in AEK Athens’ attack. Seven years after Madrid bought him as a goal machine from Germany, the Serbian striker gets a Champions League night against the club where his career stalled.
The match kicks off at 12:45 p.m. ET (9:45 a.m. PT) in Athens and streams on Paramount+.
The signing that never clicked
Real Madrid announced Jović on June 4, 2019, on a six-year deal. He arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt, where he had scored 27 goals in 48 games that season, according to the club’s own statement at the time. The fee was undisclosed, but outlets including Sky Sports reported it at about €60 million.
It never worked. Under Zinedine Zidane, he scored twice in his first 32 appearances, and Madrid loaned him back to Frankfurt in early 2021.
He returned for one more season, finishing 2021-22 with one goal and three assists in 18 games, mostly as Karim Benzema’s backup. Then came permanent moves to Fiorentina and AC Milan, where he played two seasons and scored 11 goals in 49 appearances.
Why he picked Athens
In the summer of 2025, Jović was a free agent and Spain’s Real Oviedo thought it had him. Instead, he signed a two-year deal with AEK Athens, which made the move official on August 5, 2025.
In his first Greek league season he started 22 of his 25 appearances, according to Tuttosport.
The choice looks better now. AEK is back in the Champions League, and its home win over LASK in September was the club’s first in the competition’s main stage since 2006-07. Jović had the first big chance of that night, three minutes in.
A rivalry with history
AEK has bothered Madrid before. In the 2002-03 group stage, the Greek club drew the then-European champions twice, 3-3 in Athens and 2-2 at the Bernabéu.
This time Madrid arrives coached by José Mourinho, who returned to the club in August 2026. AEK arrives with a striker who once wore Madrid’s white shirt.
Check the final score this afternoon and see whether Jović scored against the club that once gave up on him.
