Mourinho revels in Madrid's 'crazy' Champions League win against Inter

Jose Mourinho described Real Madrid's victory in their Champions League opener against Inter as "crazy", adding that his team could have been more clinical on Tuesday. 

Mourinho watched on as Madrid came out on top with a 2-1 victory at Estadio Bernabeu, with Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde on target for the LaLiga giants. 

In a battle against his former club, Mourinho's side opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Mbappe fired home after Yann Bisseck was caught in possession. 

Valverde doubled Madrid's lead nine minutes later after capitalising on Inter goalkeeper Josep Martinez dawdling in possession, with his tackle seeing the ball roll into the net.

Martinez made up for his error with a double save to deny Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, with Brahim Diaz then sending the second rebound onto the post.

That flurry of chances came after Curtis Jones had struck the crossbar, but Inter did get themselves on the scoresheet when Carlos Augusto finished in the 77th minute, although the Serie A champions were then unable to find an equaliser in the minutes that remained. 

Inter's 21 shots were the most by an away side against Madrid in a group/league phase match of the Champions League since October 2004 (22 by Dynamo Kyiv), while Los Blancos fired off 16 of their own, which generated an expected goals (xG) value of 2.91. 

"I liked the result, three points in the opening game against a strong team, but the game was spectacular for anyone at home, just not for me or Cristian Chivu," Mourinho said. 

"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.

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

Madrid have only lost one of the 28 occasions when they have started a European Cup/Champions League campaign at home (W25 D2), now winning 22 of the last 23 (L1).

They did, however, average just 35.6% of the possession against Inter, with this their lowest for a home match in the league/group phase of the Champions League on record (since 2003-04).

The brilliance of Mbappe helped them get over the line. He is now the joint-fifth-top scorer in European Cup/Champions League history, drawing level with Raul (71 goals), even if the Frenchman was on the end of some jeers from the home crowd despite finishing with a team-high total for shots on target (four). 

Mourinho was unfazed by the outside noise surrounding the Madrid number nine, adding: "Mbappe 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. 

"He'll certainly be the Champions League top scorer again this season, and he works really hard for the team, so I couldn't be more satisfied."

The result also saw Madrid bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to Real Betis at the weekend, which was their first since Mourinho returned to the Spanish capital. 

After the victory, Mourinho was asked why Madrid president Florentino Perez was so determined to bring him back, and he responded in true Mourinho style. 

"Because the situation was tough," he said. "If it's easy, it's not for me. If it's difficult, you call Jose."