Real Madrid begin their Champions League campaign with a win over Inter

Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over his former club Inter Milan in a high-voltage first-leg clash at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, with goals from Kylian Mbappe and Fede Valverde.

The 15-time European champions took advantage of two crucial defensive errors by Inter Milan in the first half to take a two-goal lead. In the second half, Carlos Augusto pulled one back for Cristian Chivu’s side, but the Italian club were unable to equalise.

Mourinho led Inter to the Champions League trophy at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2010. A few days later, the ‘Special One’ left Italy to take charge of Real Madrid. After two long seasons without a major trophy and a quick exit from the European stage, club president Florentino Perez brought the Portuguese coach back. And he returned to Real’s dugout for his second term and began his mission to end the trophy drought with a victory.

The Spanish giants bounced back from their first defeat of the season to Real Betis in La Liga on Friday. However, the outcome of the match could have been different had it not been for several easy opportunities missed by Inter’s attacking line and a brilliant save by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Playing aggressive football from the start of the match, Real goalkeeper Courtois skillfully blocked two dangerous attacks from visiting Inter. Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez. However, in the 14th minute, Inter made a fatal mistake and took advantage of a weak pass from Kurtis Jones and put Ian Bisek under pressure, which was passed to Kylian Mbappe, who scored with a lightning-fast shot to give Real a 1-0 lead.

A moment later, another childish mistake cost Inter. Uruguayan star Fede Valverde ran towards Inter goalkeeper Josep Martinez, who was hesitating with the ball in the D-box. Before Martinez could realize it, Valverde snatched the ball from him and sent it into an empty net.

Real Madrid had a golden opportunity to make it 3-0 in the first half, but the Inter goalkeeper made amends for his previous mistake. After saving Mbappe’s low shot, Martinez blocked Jude Bellingham’s incredible shot from point-blank range.

Mourinho’s men were in the lead in the second half as well. Bellingham tried to control the ball instead of heading directly from Brahim Diaz’s pass, but goalkeeper Martinez had time to save Inter. On the other hand, Courtois saved Alessandro Bastoni’s long-range low shot with great skill for a corner.

Inter turned the game around in the 77th minute. Carlos Augusto scored a powerful shot from Lautaro Martinez’s cross to make it 2-1. Then came the last-minute drama. The home fans were outraged to see substitute Alvaro Carreras waiting on the sidelines as Real winger Vinicius Junior took extra time to leave the field.
In the very last minute of the match, Real’s trusted defender Courtois saved Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s deflected shot to secure all three points for Real.