EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMADRID -- Jos Mourinho says he has seen the best and worst of the UEFA Champions League at the Bernabu. He felt the joy of winning the trophy here in 2010; two years later, he felt the heartbreak of losing a semifinal on penalties.On Tuesday, in an anxious, awkward 2-1 win over Internazionale, he saw the best and the worst of his new Real Madrid team. If ever a scoreline didn't tell a game's whole story, it was this one.Inter absolutely dominated the first half, on just about every metric -- take "passes into the attacking third": Madrid 15, Inter 128 -- except the bottom line.Madrid were 2-0 up after 23 minutes, Kylian Mbapp and Federico Valverde taking quick-thinking advantage of Inter's defensive mistakes, and they could have scored again before halftime.But the balance of play was completely in Inter's favor. In the second half, Madrid improved and could have scored three more goals, although it was Inter who found the net through Carlos Augusto in the 77th minute to ensure a tense finale.Mourinho might not have minded. "I want to win," he'd said on Monday in his prematch news conference. "I could say I want to play well, but I don't want to play well like we did against [Real] Betis [in LaLiga on Friday] and lose. I want to win."He got his wish. Madrid won, starting Mourinho's quest to win a trophy that eluded him during his previous three seasons at the Bernabu -- falling each time at the semifinal stage between 2010 and 2013 -- with three points in the league phase.But radical, across-the-board improvement will be needed for this Madrid team to be considered contenders to make it all the way to the final at the neighboring Metropolitano Stadium in June.Some context: This was a Madrid team without the suspended Arda Gler, who has arguably been their best player so far this season. His only contribution on Tuesday was to collect last season's Champions League Breakthrough Player Award before kickoff. There was also no Bernardo Silva, the player who has been earmarked to give Madrid a degree of midfield control that they lacked in 2025-26.In their place was Trent Alexander-Arnold, playing out of position in central midfield and looking lost, unsure of where to be and what to do.Madrid still have outstanding players capable of deciding games with their individual talent. In goal, Thibaut Courtois made seven saves. Just one of Inter's 17 chances -- four of them defined by Opta as "big chances" -- was converted, by Augusto.And at the other end of the pitch, there is Mbapp, scorer of 15 Champions League goals last season. Prematch, he had bristled at suggestions he ought to work harder and be more of a hard-working, modern forward like PSG's Ousmane Dembl or Barcelona's Raphinha."I could say I score more goals than the two players you mentioned," he responded. "But I want to be smart and say of course I need to improve ... even if I do things those others don't."Four days before the Inter game, at Real Betis, Mbapp had a rare off night, with seven shots and a personal expected-goals (xG) total of 1.96 -- including a missed penalty -- going unrewarded.Here he put Madrid ahead after 14 minutes, after a move Dembl or Raphinha would have been proud of. Spotting that Inter midfielder Curtis Jones' pass had put teammate Yann Bisseck under pressure, Mbapp closed Bisseck down and forced him into a panicked mistake, with Brahim Daz providing the pass for Mbapp to finish.An even more glaring error put Madrid 2-0 up, with Valverde closing down Inter goalkeeper Josep Martnez. Valverde was later named the game's MVP but said it should have been Courtois. "He saved us," he told Movistar.Before halftime, both Mbapp and Jude Bellingham could have made it 3-0. Bellingham went close again after the break. But there was always something deeply unconvincing about Madrid's performance, a lack of control, and an inability to impose themselves on the game. Inter were more assured, and more composed.Madrid fans who should have been feeling buoyant about a lead against another top European team were instead frustrated. Some of them whistled Vincius Jnior when he was substituted in the 87th minute, and a few even whistled Mbapp when he was withdrawn in added time.Inter ended the match with more possession, more shots and more of the ball in dangerous areas, even if the clearest chances had been Madrid's.Mourinho has denied he's lacking a Champions League with Madrid, that he must win it because he was unable to do in his first spell. "We won what we won, and we lost what we lost," he said prematch about what's missing from his personal Bernabu trophy cabinet. "It's a closed chapter."It's early -- just five competitive games played, one of them in Europe -- but to write a new one, with the ending he wants, Mourinho must find this team's new identity, one that isn't overreliant on Courtois at one end, and Mbapp at the other.
