By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-09-09 13:29:22 | Updated at 2026-09-19 11:32:12
1 week ago
Real Madrid beat Inter 2-1 on Matchday 1 of the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League. Some stats suggested it was classic José Mourinho, but he seemed far from happy at full-time.
José Mourinho has never needed his team to dominate the ball to win a football match.
Tuesday’s clash between Real Madrid and Inter at the Bernabéu brought him back into elite football relevance again following his surprise return to Los Blancos in the summer, and on the face of it, the win bore the hallmarks of a vintage Mourinho success.
Madrid claimed a 2-1 win to begin their 2026-27 Champions League campaign with three points. They did so despite having just 35.6% possession, at home.
Rarely one to shy away from his portrayal as football’s pantomime villain, much of Mourinho’s managerial career has been defined by his opposition to Barcelona, the club he once worked for but was later snubbed by. His willingness to cede possession in heavyweight contests has long been a feature of his teams and reflects his deviation from the ideals of the Blaugrana.
Madrid’s measly possession figure on Tuesday was their lowest on record (since 2003-04) in a home league- or group-phase match of the Champions League.
Yet it was seemingly no hindrance to an important win. Madrid caused Inter plenty of problems on the counter, with their front four of Vinícius Júnior, Kylian Mbappé, Brahim Díaz and Jude Bellingham able to exploit gaps routinely, especially in the second half.
Madrid managed five shots from fast breaks, a tally they’ve only bettered twice on record (since 2003-04) in the Champions League. And as their 2.9 expected goals (xG) suggests, chances weren’t exactly at a premium whether from fast breaks or not, as we’ll highlight shortly.
The two Madrid goals also fit a certain perception of Mourinho.
During his first spell at Madrid, Spanish journalist Diego Torres wrote a biography of Mourinho – that the coach himself panned – in which the writer perceived his risk-averse philosophy to be centred on principles that broadly reflected the idea that whoever has more of the ball is likelier to commit mistakes, and the team with the fewest errors wins.
As noted, Torres’ book was heavily criticised by Mourinho, but those particular ideals did come to the surface on Tuesday.
For Madrid’s first, Yann Bisseck was robbed of possession and within a few seconds Mbappé had swept home. For their second, Federico Valverde tackled Inter goalkeeper Josep Martínez, prodding the ball into the net in the process.
Those weren’t Madrid’s only opportunities, of course. They squandered a host more.
Their nine ‘big chances’ (opportunities from which a team would ordinarily be expected to score) was Madrid’s second most on record in a Champions League game, only managing more vs Malmö (12) in 2015. Seven ‘big chances’ missed was their joint most on record in the competition.
It’s fair to say Madrid were wasteful, and on another day they might’ve been punished for that.
Mourinho’s sides don’t tend to be associated with end-to-end encounters; typically, he’s been renowned for frustrating the opposition, keeping things tight at the back. But this certainly wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
Inter’s 21 shots was the most by an away side against Real Madrid in a group-/league-phase match of the Champions League since October 2004 (22 by Dynamo Kyiv).
Thibaut Courtois arguably played as important a role as any Madrid attacker, making seven saves on the night. He’s only been forced into more in a group-/league-phase UCL match once before at Real Madrid, against Liverpool (8) last November, though that was at Anfield.
Make no mistake, this wasn’t what Mourinho had in mind.
“I found [the match] crazy, a kind of madness I don’t much care for,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I prefer to be able to score five, six, or seven, but with absolute control and without needing an absolutely incredible goalkeeper.”
The prospect of Vinícius, Mbappé and co. romping forward on devastating counter-attacks is a tantalising one, and it would appear to be a strategy that will yield goals for Madrid against top opposition.
But Tuesday’s win showed this Madrid side is far from being a vintage Mourinho team because they were much too easy to play through and create against. He said it himself: Courtois’ heroics were vital.
That they’re not yet a perfect embodiment of Mourinho’s ideals isn’t necessarily a surprise, given he’s only been in charge for a few games, though patience is afforded to very few at Real Madrid.
If his vision for a successful season revolves around counter-attacking with his stacked frontline, he’ll need the team to be much tighter in midfield and at the back, and these are changes he must bring about quickly.
Some of the stats on Tuesday hinted at a typical Mourinho win; in reality, this was far too chaotic to qualify as such, and this will be a cause for concern.
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