Real Madrid had 35 per cent of the ball, and Mourinho still would not celebrate beating Inter
Two Inter errors inside 23 minutes settled Real Madrid’s Champions League opener. Courtois made seven saves on his 100th night in the competition, and the manager who won a treble with Inter kept his hands in his pockets.
Sep 9, 2026
José Mourinho stood in his own technical area at the final whistle with his hands in his pockets. Real Madrid had just beaten Inter 2-1 to open the Champions League league phase, and the manager who won a treble with the Italian club on this exact ground was not going to punch the air about it. “I was very happy to win the match, but I couldn’t celebrate in front of them,” he said afterwards.
Two goals from two mistakes
Both Madrid goals came from Inter giving the ball away in bad places. On 14 minutes Yann Bisseck was caught in possession and Kylian Mbappé finished. Nine minutes later Josep Martínez dawdled on the ball in his own area, Federico Valverde arrived to take it off him, and the challenge sent it rolling into an empty net. Twenty-three minutes gone, two-nil, and Madrid had barely constructed anything.
They did not construct much for the rest of it either. Madrid finished the night with 35.6 per cent of the ball, the lowest they have recorded in a home Champions League group or league phase match since the 2003-04 season. Inter had 21 shots to Madrid’s 16 and lost the expected-goals count 2.91 to 1.78, which tells you that Madrid’s chances were the better ones without telling you how uncomfortable the last hour was.
Marcus Thuram forced a save from Thibaut Courtois early. Hakan Çalhanoğlu dragged one over from range. Lautaro Martínez tried his luck from distance too. Carlos Augusto eventually got Inter on the board in the 77th minute, turning in from close range.
Courtois’ hundredth
Courtois made seven saves. It was his 100th appearance in the competition, and it was the sort of night that gets used as evidence in arguments about how much a goalkeeper is actually worth. Martínez made six at the other end, which is a strange number for a goalkeeper whose team had the ball for two-thirds of the match.
Mbappé’s goal took him to 71 in the Champions League, level with Raúl and fifth on the all-time list. Madrid have now scored in 44 consecutive European home matches, equalling their own record, and have won their last five Champions League meetings with Inter.
Mourinho’s own account of it was not the account of a man who thought he had controlled anything. “This game was crazy,” he said. “It could’ve been 5-0 for us, 5-5, 7-6, 5-6, a game with so many chances.”
Two men, one night in 2010
The subplot was hard to avoid. On 22 May 2010 Mourinho’s Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at this stadium, Diego Milito scoring in the 35th and 70th minutes, and Inter completed the first treble won by an Italian club. Mourinho left for Real Madrid within days. Playing left-back for him that night, given the job of containing Arjen Robben and doing it well enough to be withdrawn only midway through the second half, was Cristian Chivu.
Chivu is now Inter’s head coach, and on Tuesday he brought them back to the ground where he won the biggest trophy of his playing career and lost by a goal. Mourinho was asked whether facing his old club had been interesting. “No, it’s difficult,” he answered. “I tried to treat it as a normal match, but it wasn’t a normal match. I tried to stay focused, and for those 90 minutes, I did.”
He is 63 and back at a club he left in 2013 with a Copa del Rey, a Supercopa, and the league title his side won on a record 100 points. Whether the second spell ends better than the first is an open question, but the opening night of a Champions League campaign is not usually where you learn the answer. Three points and an ugly hour will do for now, and so will a goalkeeper who was worth more than the possession numbers.