Three takeaways from Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan

Three takeaways from Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan The festival called the UEFA Champions League returned to the Santiago Bernabeu last night as Los Blancos hosted Inter Milan in their very first game in the competition this season. Jose Mourinho had massive selection dilemmas in midfield, and eventually opted to start Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside Federico Valverde in the absence of Arda Guler, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga. That experiment did not work out, and Real Madrid consistently lost the midfield battle on the night. Yet, they managed to capitalise on moments of individual brilliance and hold on to a 2-1 win to register their biggest win of the season yet. Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan. Two lucky goals Real Madrid did not take long to go 2-0 up against Inter Milan last night, but that had more to do with the visitors’ sloppy defence rather than Los Blancos’ brilliance. Real Madrid scored two early goals vs Inter Milan. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images) The men in white started the game pressing well, but Inter Milan looked very shaky in possession. They made two errors in the first 20 minutes, and Real Madrid capitalised and converted both. Kylian Mbappe’s opener came off a moment of mayhem between Inter Milan’s defenders where the ball was left in no man’s land. Brahim Diaz pounced on it and played it through to the French forward, who made no mistake. Minutes later, Federico Valverde directly dispossessed the goalkeeper with his press and deflected the ball into the back of the net, making it 2-0. Those were the only goals Los Blancos scored on the night. While there is nothing wrong with capitalising on defensive errors and using that to lay the foundation for the win, the fact remains that Real Madrid were largely unimpressive throughout the 90 minutes. Inter Milan committing those errors, needless to say, was lucky for Real Madrid who rode on them to take three points. Thibaut Courtois saves the day Despite Real Madrid taking an early lead and even having the home advantage, it was Inter Milan who dominated large parts of the game and kept the lion’s share of possession. Thibaut Courtois was once again fantastic. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images) At one point, it looked like Jose Mourinho’s men did not even bother having possession as they sat back and defended, hoping to break on the counter and convert. That plan, needless to say, led to Inter Milan seeing a lot of the Real Madrid goal and putting serious pressure on the hosts’ defence.  Dean Huijsen, Ibrahima Konate and Marc Cucurella all had strong games at the back, but in the end, it was Thibaut Courtois who saved the day for Los Blancos. The Belgian goalkeeper made a staggering seven saves for his side on the night including two from inside the box. Inter Milan’s finishing was indeed poor, but Courtois’ greatness stood out and ensured Real Madrid held on to their tight lead. If not for the veteran goalkeeper, Mourinho’s men could well be staring at defeat. Their performance, after all, was unimpressive and Inter Milan had some big chances to equalise denied by Courtois. Three massive points The team’s performance against Inter Milan was not convincing, and that will be something for Mourinho to dig into and look to improve. Federico Valverde was on the scoresheet. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images) What Real Madrid will be pleased about, however, is taking all three points away from the night, for they are absolutely massive from the point of view of the competition. Inter Milan represented one of Real Madrid’s biggest challenges in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League alongside Arsenal, and to take three points from one of their two elite opponents is worth its weight in gold. They still have Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig, LASK Linz, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk and AEK Athens to come, and Real Madrid will back themselves against most of the teams in that list. Taking three points in one of their two most difficult games will go a long way in tying them down to a top-8 finish if they can win the easier clashes while also handing them some leeway for a potential defeat at some stage in the competition.