Real Madrid somehow cling on to beat Inter on José Mourinho’s big night

Sometimes football is silly, sometimes it doesn’t make much sense, and sometimes it’s fun for it. On a night when there were 37 shots and the goalkeepers shared 13 occasionally absurd saves between them, José Mourinho’s current side beat his former team Inter on his Champions League return to Real Madrid. Just don’t ask exactly how. Except perhaps to cite Thibaut Courtois, whose astonishing 89th-minute stop from Henrikh Mkhitaryan explained much and allowed them, just, to hold on to the first-half lead they had been given by goals from Kylian Mbappé and Fede Valverde.

By Mbappé, Valverde, and Inter themselves, that is. You might be tempted to say the Italians had shot themselves in the foot, only if they tried Courtois would probably save that too. “If he wasn’t voted man of the match tonight, he never will be,” Mourinho said. It took 77 minutes for him to be beaten, Carlos Augusto’s goal giving this match a frantic last 15 minutes and Inter hope of justice, but it didn’t happen again. So a game that could have had any scoreline – “5-1 to us, 6-6, I don’t want to say they could have won,” Mourinho suggested – actually ended 2-1. Madrid’s manager called it “mad, and not a madness I like.”

This wasn’t always good from Madrid, in fact at times it was terrible. There was a void where the midfield should be, Mourinho thanking Trent Alexander-Arnold for filling in a “specific” midfield role that’s not for him. The intensity in the press high up was matched by a passivity elsewhere. Inter played through and round them, clocking up twice as many attacks and passes. At the end the Santiago Bernabéu whistled; Vinícius Júnior in particular felt their frustration. Yet their team, who also could have won by more – Jude Bellingham said he had missed “two sitters” – have started with a win.

José Mourinho makes his point against the team with whom he won the treble. Photograph: Diego Souto/Getty Images

The irritation had grown. When Madrid scored the first, this placed cheered but they might have laughed too. That Madrid led didn’t make sense; not when it came to the goal, not when it came to the game either. It had taken Madrid four minutes to get a meaningful touch, and by then Courtois had already made a superb save from Marcus Thuram. But this is Madrid in the Champions League and now somehow they led. Ninety minutes later, they still did, which didn’t compute either.

Inter had been playing with what looked like ease until suddenly even the simplest things looked complicated. Hakan Calhanoglu and Lautaro Martínez had just fired off the third and fourth shots without reward when it happened. Inter had enjoyed 65% of possession so far but gave it up in a way that was comic. Curtis Jones struggled with the first ball, playing to Yann Bisseck who fatally lost his bearing and his footing. Stumbling like someone attached his legs the wrong way round, he gave it to Brahím Diaz who sent Mbappé away to score.

It was Madrid’s first shot and the opening goal. If that was silly, what came next was even more ridiculous. What is it Madrid do to goalkeepers in this competition? Receiving on his line, Josep Martínez saw Valverde steaming in and tried a drag back, which failed. A flick of the ankle and the Uruguayan had scored. Twenty-three minutes, two shots, 2-0. “That was not chance,” Mourinho said and the lead might have grown when another robbery saw Vinícius dashing away. Bissek, this time, made a fantastic saving challenge. For all the fortune this felt like a plan now: force the mistake, punish it. Madrid forced more too, which they didn’t punish.

Kylian Mbappé opens the scoring for Real Madrid in the 14th minute. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters

Inter recovered and reasserted themselves, a calmness in possession at one end that contrasted with the calamitousness further back. Curtis Jones, Lautaro Martínez and Augusto virtually walked into the area, where Jones’ effort smashed the crossbar. Then another gift, from Benjamin Pavard, saw Madrid escape just before the break. Bellingham was denied by a wonderful stop from Josep Martínez and Díaz hit the post. Inter led 12-3 in shots, boasted 70% possession and had completed 125 final third passes to Madrid’s 13. Madrid, though, led.

Those numbers evened as the game opened, the second half beginning with Josep Martínez coming out to stop Mbappé before Inter came back at them. Courtois saved from Jones, Nicolò Barella shot wide and Thuram scooped over. The roar that then greeted an outrageous Courtois double stop spoke of disbelief, although the flag was up. The feeling was similar when Josep Martínez scrambled across his line to stop Bellingham after Díaz’s glorious scoop over him and into the Englishman.

A competition built between the keepers. Madrid could have killed this, many times. Inter could have revived it. Courtois saved from Alessandro Bastoni. Josep Martínez saved from Mbappé with his legs. That was 6-5 to Courtois. There were whistles, frustration, but chances too: the 20 seconds or so between Lautaro Martínez being blocked at one end and Díaz slotting wide at the other told a tale. Inter finally scored when another incisive exchange saw Lautaro Martínez pull back for Augusto to score. There were f15 minutes left and a game on, but that, somehow, was that. Which didn’t make sense either.