Mourinho Prepares for Clash Against Inter: A Battle of Legends
José Mourinho is back in familiar territory: questioning the calendar and facing an old love.
On the eve of Real Madrid’s clash with Inter, the Portuguese coach again hinted that unseen hands might be shaping his team’s schedule. But the subtext is clear. Whatever he thinks of the fixture list, the real battle is on the pitch – and against a club that helped define his legend.
Mourinho salutes Inter’s identity – and takes a jab at the schedule
Mourinho, who steered Inter to a historic treble in 2010 and delivered the Nerazzurri’s third and most recent Champions League crown, did not hide his admiration for what his former club have become.
“Inter have been a great team for six years. From (Antonio) Conte to (Simone) Inzaghi and (Cristian) Chivu, the game model is the same. It's a team that can play with its eyes closed,” he said, highlighting a tactical continuity that has survived several coaches and two lost Champions League finals in 2023 and 2025.
Then came the sting.
“Tomorrow we will have three suspended players, but on the pitch it will always be 11 against 11. Maybe the person who made the fixture list was Italian.”
Real Madrid will be without Arda Güler, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga through suspension. Mourinho framed it as another obstacle, not an excuse.
No rift with Chivu: “We went through so much together”
The build-up has also circled around Mourinho’s relationship with Cristian Chivu, now the Inter coach after leading the club to a domestic league and cup double last season.
Chivu, once a key defender for Mourinho at the Stadio Meazza, has been at the centre of rumours suggesting tension between the pair. Mourinho shut that down instantly when asked in his press conference.
“He's been my player; we've worked together,” he replied via Marca. “We went through so much together, good and bad. Who did you talk to to find out if I have a bad relationship with him? With whom?”
No smile. No joke. Just a clear defence of a bond forged in one of Inter’s greatest eras.
Real Madrid under pressure after Betis setback
The European tie arrives at an awkward moment for Madrid. Mourinho’s side head into it off the back of their first defeat of the season, away to Real Betis, a result that snapped a three-game winning run in La Liga.
The performance in Sevilla frustrated him. The lack of ruthlessness even more.
“I want to win [tomorrow],” he said. “I can tell you that I want to play well, but I don't want to play well as we did against Real Betis and then lose.”
At a club with 15 Champions League titles and a standard that allows no pauses, context barely matters. Madrid last lifted the trophy in 2023-24, then fell at the quarter-final stage in each of the next two seasons, against Arsenal and Bayern Munich. Another early exit would crank the pressure up again.
“We are in a phase where we'll play eight games, and the goal is to qualify [for the next phase]. I want to focus on this single game,” Mourinho added, narrowing the lens to one night, one opponent, one result.
“Dead” in Seville, alive on the training ground
Mourinho’s second spell at the Bernabéu carries a clear mission: restore silverware after a trophyless campaign. That makes the reaction to setbacks crucial, and he liked what he saw after Betis.
“I saw them the way I wanted to see them, dead in the dressing room in Sevilla, and then ready for the training session on Sunday,” he said. The message: the defeat hurt, but it did not linger.
He admitted technical flaws and familiar weaknesses, but refused to paint a picture of a team in crisis.
“We are convinced we had a good game. The goals we missed are not customary. We have well-known problems, but this is it. We'll play to compete. I'm the Real Madrid coach, and we have a very important Champions League game tomorrow.”
Inter arrive in Madrid chasing points of their own, and Mourinho expects both giants to be part of the tournament’s latter stages.
“I think we will both qualify, and it is possible to be in both in the future. Every point is important. Inter come here to seek points.”
Old club, old suspicions about the calendar, old rivalry on the European stage. Now comes the only verdict that counts for Mourinho: 90 minutes, under the lights, with Real Madrid’s season balance already starting to tilt.
