Mourinho did not open his second Real Madrid tenure with a comfortable win. He opened it with 21 Inter Milan shots at his own goal, 35.6% of the ball for his own side, and a line about why he was there at all.

“Because the situation was tough. If it’s easy, it’s not for me. If it’s difficult, you call Jose.”

Kylian Mbappé and Fede Valverde had put Real Madrid two goals up inside 25 minutes at the Bernabéu. Then Cristian Chivu’s Inter took the ball and largely refused to give it back.

Two goals up, then Inter took over

The visitors’ 21 shots were the most by any away side in a group- or league-phase Champions League match at Real Madrid since October 2004, when Dynamo Kyiv managed 22. Real Madrid finished with just 35.6% possession, their lowest on record at home in the competition. Only Thibaut Courtois kept the ledger of missed chances from turning into an equaliser.

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Mourinho did not dress the numbers up.

“This game was crazy. It could’ve been 5-0 for us, 5-5, 7-6, 5-6, a game with so many chances.”

“Inter are strong, it was tough for our midfield to close them down sitting deep, yet we could’ve killed off the game at 3-0 before half-time,” he added.

He then defended Kylian Mbappé, who scored the opener but spurned several other chances.

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“Mbappé worked hard, he scored an important goal, had two or three chances that he usually converts, but I am not worried, because he will always score goals.”

Courtois turned the game

Standing between Inter and a very different scoreline was Thibaut Courtois. France 24 marked the game as the Belgian’s 100th Champions League appearance, and he needed the experience of every one of them, denying Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martínez, a low drive from Alessandro Bastoni and a deflected effort from Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Carlos Augusto’s close-range finish in the 77th minute was Inter’s only reward. They pressed until the whistle without another.

“We had another chance with Bellingham, Inter could’ve scored several too. It was open to the end, just a crazy game of football,” Mourinho said.

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Courtois pulls out of Belgium Nations League cycle

The morning after the match, Courtois turned to Belgium. He said he would sit out the entire Nations League cycle under new Belgium coach Mark van Bommel, who had refused to guarantee him the starting shirt.

“I have made the choice not to play the entire Nations League campaign with the Red Devils,” Courtois said on Wednesday.

He said he would return for the European Championship qualifiers. Belgium’s next fixture, under Van Bommel, is against Italy on September 25.

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