Who: Real Madrid vs Inter Milan
What: Champions League league phase
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
When: Tuesday, September 8, at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary stream
When Jose Mourinho left Inter Milan for Real Madrid in the summer of 2010, after leading the Italian outfit to Champions League glory, he was at the peak of his powers.
The Portuguese coach claimed an historic treble with Inter, clinching Serie A in the last week of the season and lifting the Coppa Italia.
Inter beat Bayern 2-0 in the Champions League final at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium, winning the trophy for the first time since 1965 and becoming the first Italian team to win the treble.
The day after the final Mourinho said it was likely his last match in charge and about a week later his appointment at Real Madrid was finalised.
Now 16 years on, and beginning his second stint at Madrid, Mourinho kicks off the record 15-time Champions League winners’ European campaign against Serie A champions Inter on Tuesday at the Bernabeu.
Mourinho denies feeling pressure to lift Champions League
The Champions League is the only trophy that evaded Mourinho during his first stint at Real Madrid.
“No, it is two different spells,” he said when asked at a pre-match news conference if he was in debt to the club. “When I left in 2013, we won what we won and lost what we lost and we gave it our all. And that was that. What I need to do now has nothing to do with the past.”
“Back in 2010, we weren’t even reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League and it had been ages since we’d played in a semifinal. Now we’ve won six Champions Leagues in a little over a decade.”
All eyes will be on how Real respond to their first setback of Mourinho’s second spell – a 1-0 defeat by Real Betis in La Liga on Friday.
“We want to win every match, every competition,” he said. But you have to work to accomplish stability. Stability. Stability … Structure …
“So Real Madrid need to reach that stability that is so important to achieve something great. But Real Madrid are Real Madrid, you need to win here no matter what.”
‘We all need to improve’
Sitting alongside Mourinho, star striker Kylian Mbappe was asked several times about his relationship with Vinicius Jr and the atmosphere in the Real dressing room.
“What does an improvement in the dressing room mean?” Mbappe said when asked if there had been a change from last year.
“Do you have the feeling that something wasn’t right last year? No, it’s the same as last year. It’s true we have a different coach, but it’s the same.”
Mbappe acknowledged his side have to improve in front of goal.
“I could say that I score more goals than some PSG players so they need to score more, but I have to be smart and acknowledge that I need to improve too, even if I do certain things that others don’t,” he said.
“It’s an endless debate. We all need to improve [in front of goal], and also with the ball.”
What happened in Madrid’s last match?
Mbappe missed a late penalty as Troy Parrott scored his first goal for Real Betis in their 1-0 win on Friday, ending Mourinho’s perfect start to the La Liga season.
Madrid had won each of their first three matches under Mourinho in his second spell in charge, but Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles denied Mbappe from the spot deep into stoppage time to seal a memorable victory at La Cartuja.
Vinicius Junior hit the post in the first half from Arda Guler’s pass across the face of goal, with Mbappe foiled twice by heroic blocks from Natan Bernardo de Souza and Marc Bartra.
As Madrid struggled to break Betis down, the hosts took a surprise lead nine minutes from time when Parrott fired home the rebound after Thibaut Courtois had produced a fine save to deny Nelson Deossa’s header.
What happened in Inter’s last match?
A last-gasp winner from Lautaro Martinez sealed a breathless win for Inter as the Serie A champions fought back from two goals down to edge visiting Napoli 3-2 on Saturday.
The game exploded in the second half when Matteo Politano guided home a shot in the 50th minute before Rasmus Hojlund’s curler doubled the Napoli lead three minutes later.
Inter responded almost immediately when Martinez hammered in his first goal of the season from a Dimarco cross. Substitute Marcus Thuram came agonisingly close to a leveller when he headed off the post.
The France international would not be denied twice, though, and smashed a towering header past Alex Meret in the 82nd minute to level the scores.
Chances fell at both ends before Martinez’s penalty box instincts proved decisive in the 91st minute as Napoli failed to clear in a goalmouth scramble and the Argentina striker pounced to settle an extraordinary match.
Prediction
The Opta supercomputer makes Real Madrid the favourites, with a win probability of 56 percent. Inter given a 22.3 percent chance of winning.
Head-to-head
They have faced each other on 19 occasions; Madrid won 10 games, Inter won seven, and two ended as draws.
Somewhat surprisingly, Inter have not beaten Real Madrid since 1998, a game in which the great Roberto Baggio scored a brace for the Italians.
Last five encounters:
- December 07, 2021: Real Madrid 2-0 Inter Milan (Champions League)
- September 15, 2021: Inter Milan 0-1 Real Madrid (Champions League)
- November 25, 2020: Inter Milan 0-2 Real Madrid (Champions League)
- November 03, 2020: Real Madrid 3-2 Inter Milan (Champions League)
- November 25, 1998: Inter Milan 3-1 Real Madrid (Champions League)
Real Madrid’s team news
Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler and Bernardo Silva will all miss the game due to suspensions carried over from last season.
Madrid also have a host of injuries to contend with as Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy and Raul Asencio are all ruled out.
Aurelien Tchouameni, Thiago Pitarch, Endrick and Marc Cucurella face late fitness tests as they struggle to recover from injuries, but all are reportedly back in training.
Predicted starting XI:
Courtois (goalkeeper); Dumfries, Konate, Huijsen, Cucurella; Bellingham, Valverde; Diomande, Diaz, Vinicius Jr; Mbappe
Inter Milan’s team news
Left-back Federico Dimarco is unavailable due to a knee injury, while new signing Djed Spence is still working his way back to full fitness after an undisclosed injury and is unlikely to feature.
Predicted starting XI:
Josep Martinez (goalkeeper); Bastoni, Bisseck, Akanji; Diouf, Barella, Jones, Calhanoglu, Augusto; Lautaro Martinez, Thuram
