Mourinho won a treble at the Bernabeu with Inter, and Chivu was his left-back that night
Sixteen years after the 2010 final, the two men are back at the same ground on opposite benches. Real Madrid host Inter at 12.30am IST on Wednesday.
Sep 8, 2026
On 22 May 2010, Jose Mourinho stood on the touchline at the Santiago Bernabeu and watched Diego Milito score twice as Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0 to become the first Italian club to win a treble. Cristian Chivu started that final at left-back. Sixteen years later the two of them are back at the same ground, and they are on opposite benches: Mourinho now manages Real Madrid, Chivu manages Inter, and they meet in the Champions League at 12.30am IST on Wednesday.
Chivu on the man who signed him off for the final
Chivu has not pretended the week is normal. “Mourinho is a special person for me,” he said before the game. “Meeting him was a stroke of luck.” He has also been clear that the affection stops at the touchline: “I have never copied anyone. I have my own idea of football, built as a player and during my years in the youth sector.”
On what Inter are walking into, he was blunter. “Playing at the Bernabeu is never easy for anyone. It has been 60 years since Inter won here.” He said his side would go about it “without changing who we are”, which is the sort of line managers use when they have no intention of parking anything.
Real Madrid arrive off their first defeat
Mourinho’s Real Madrid had won their first three La Liga matches before losing 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday, a result that leaves them third with nine points from four. Chivu’s reading of it was generous. Madrid, he said, “lost their last match but undeservedly”, and he put some of it down to new signings still settling.
Madrid’s problem is availability rather than form. Rodrygo, Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao are all unavailable through injury, and Eduardo Camavinga and Arda Guler are suspended, carrying over red cards from last season’s tie with Bayern Munich, along with Bernardo Silva, sent off against Manchester City in last season’s round of 16. That is seven players Mourinho cannot pick. For a manager whose first Bernabeu league night back in August finished 4-1, the squad has been thinner than the scorelines suggest.
Inter come in on a comeback
Inter beat Napoli 3-2 on Saturday after going two goals down, which is a decent piece of evidence for a side likely to need something similar here. Djed Spence is the one confirmed absentee, still waiting on his debut after a calf problem.
The wider record is not kind to them. Real Madrid have won all four meetings between the clubs since 2000, and the sides have not met since December 2021, when Madrid won 2-0 at the Bernabeu. Go far enough back and Inter have the better of it, including a 3-1 win over Madrid in the 1964 European Cup final, but nothing from this century helps Chivu’s argument.
What to watch for
The obvious subplot is Mourinho against the club he won a treble with, at the ground where he sealed it. He has never been sentimental about that sort of thing, and Madrid have the stronger hand even with seven players missing.
The more interesting question is whether Chivu means what he says about not changing who Inter are. A side that has just come from 2-0 down against Napoli is not built to sit in for 90 minutes, and Madrid without Rodrygo and Militao are a team you might reasonably decide to go at. If Inter do, this could be the best game of the opening round. If they do not, the recent head-to-head record suggests how it goes.