Real Madrid defeats Inter 2-1 in Champions League opener

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Sometimes football is silly and sometimes it is more fun for it. On a night when there were 37 shots and the goalkeepers shared thirteen saves between them, some of them absurd, José Mourinho’s Real Madrid found a way to beat his former team Inter in his first Champions League night of his second spell. Just don’t ask exactly how. Except perhaps to cite Thibaut Courtois, whose astonishing save in the 89th minute saw them hold on to a 2-0 first-half lead given then by goals from Kylian Mbappé and Fede Valverde themselves. You would say that they had shot themselves in the foot, only if they tried, Courtois would probably save that too. This wasn’t always good, in fact at times it was terrible, but they had got through somehow. You would say that they had shot themselves in the foot, only if they tried, Courtois would probably save that too. This wasn’t always good, in fact at times it was terrible, but they had got through somehow. When Madrid scored the first, this grand arena cheered but they might as well have laughed too. That Madrid led really didn’t make much sense; not when it came to the goal and not when it came to the game either. It had taken Madrid four minutes to get a meaningful hold of the ball, and by then Courtois had already made a superb save from Marcus Thuram. But now, somehow, they led. Ninety minutes later, they still did. Continue reading...

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First it was a defensive turnover that led to a Kylian Mbappé score, then an embarrassing blunder by Spanish goalkeeper Josep Martínez that gifted Federico Valverde another score. Just like that, in less than 25 minutes, Real Madrid had a two-goal lead on its way to an opening win in the league phase of the Champions League on Tuesday. The 15-time European champions took advantage of Inter's mistakes to win 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

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Last season's top scorer Kylian Mbappé was on target as record winners Real Madrid beat Inter Milan 2-1 in their Champions League opener on Tuesday. Mbappé netted in the 14th and captain Federico Valverde added the second nine minutes later as Real took full advantage of Inter mistakes.