Mourinho’s Madrid Survive Wild Opener Against Inter Milan
Jose Mourinho’s second life at Real Madrid began with chaos, gifts and, in the end, three points.
Back on the Champions League touchline with the club that has lifted the trophy a record 15 times, Mourinho watched his side edge Inter Milan 2-1 at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, on a night when defensive errors did as much to shape the story as star power.
Mourinho’s Madrid survive wild opener
The scriptwriters did not bother with subtlety. Mourinho’s first game back in the competition came against Inter, the club he dragged to the treble and Champions League glory in 2010. This time, though, Inter handed him the initiative.
Madrid were two up midway through the first half, both goals wrapped in blue-and-black paper.
First, Yann Bisseck got himself into trouble and Kylian Mbappe pounced, sweeping home on his 99th Champions League appearance. That strike lifted Mbappe to 71 goals in the competition, level with club icon Raul. Same stage, same ruthless finishing, a very different era.
Inter’s second calamity arrived inside their own six-yard box. Goalkeeper Josep Martinez tried to be clever, attempted to spin away from Fede Valverde and paid for it. Valverde nicked the ball off his toes and finished, a goal that felt like a statement of attitude as much as quality.
Inter refused to fold. Carlos Augusto dragged them back into the contest, and from there the game opened up completely. Chances flew at both ends. Mourinho summed it up to Movistar with typical exaggeration and a glint of truth: “A game that finished 2-1 could have finished 7-6 without any problems.”
Madrid, though, did what Mourinho teams are supposed to do. They suffered, they bent, but they did not break.
Haaland bullies Porto as City keep rolling
While Madrid leaned on old habits, Manchester City leaned on a very familiar weapon.
Enzo Maresca’s side won 2-0 away to Portuguese champions Porto, both goals coming from Erling Haaland after the break. Two minutes into the second half, Enzo Fernandez swung in a cross and Haaland did what he so often does – attacked the space, attacked the ball, and buried the header.
Porto chased, City controlled, and when stoppage time arrived, Haaland struck again to kill the contest. His numbers are beginning to look absurd even by modern standards: 59 goals in 59 Champions League appearances.
“Erling Haaland is an animal. He is a beast, so every time he is on the pitch, I'm going to look for him, and hopefully give him many more assists,” Fernandez told Amazon Prime, a line that sounded less like praise and more like a tactical plan.
For City, Champions League winners in 2023, it was a fourth straight win in all competitions. Next up in Europe: a home meeting with current holders Paris Saint-Germain. The stage keeps getting bigger.
Villa shake off early-season gloom
Aston Villa arrived in Belgium with questions hanging over them. Europa League winners last season, yet three games into the new Premier League campaign without a goal. Confidence had dipped. They badly needed a spark.
They got a 3-2 win at Club Brugge and something that looked a lot like themselves again.
John McGinn settled Villa’s nerves early, curling a precise finish into the far corner to open the scoring. Hugo Vetlesen hit back for Brugge, but Villa’s response was immediate and sharp. Emiliano Buendia restored the lead, and then, two minutes before the break, Nicolas Jackson announced himself.
The summer signing raced through after Yann Sommer charged out of his box and misjudged everything. Jackson kept his head and rolled in his first Villa goal for 3-1, punishing the goalkeeper’s rush of blood.
The game refused to quieten. Nicolo Tresoldi pulled one back just after the hour mark from the spot following a handball by Aaron Wan-Bissaka, then clipped the post soon after. Villa wobbled but did not collapse.
“We took one step forward today and it was very, very important for our confidence and stability,” Unai Emery said, and this time the scoreline backed him up.
Guirassy at both ends in Dortmund thriller
At Signal Iduna Park, Borussia Dortmund’s new campaign began in the only way Dortmund really know how: breathless, unpredictable, and decided in the final stretch.
Last season’s runners-up beat Villarreal 3-2 with Serhou Guirassy at the centre of almost everything.
Renato Veiga’s own goal handed Dortmund the lead early in the second half, only for Santiago Mourino to haul Villarreal level with a firm header. The tension cranked up, the Yellow Wall roared, and Guirassy took over.
With 10 minutes to go, he struck to put Dortmund back in front. Not long after, he converted from the penalty spot for his second and Dortmund’s third, seemingly settling the contest.
He was not finished. In the kind of twist that only football seems to enjoy, a Gregor Kobel save cannoned off Guirassy’s face and flew into his own net. A brace and an own goal in one night. Dortmund still walked away with three points, but not a single heartbeat in the stadium stayed calm.
Parrott steals the show for Betis
Real Betis waited 21 years to return to the Champions League. They needed someone to grab the occasion and refuse to let go. Troy Parrott did exactly that.
The Irish striker, already fresh from scoring the winner against Madrid at the weekend, delivered again in a 3-2 victory away to Lille. Betis twice trailed, twice found a way back, and then rode Parrott’s moment.
Ayase Ueda and Alexsandro struck for Davide Ancelotti’s Lille, only for Marc Bartra to answer both times, dragging Betis level with a pair of vital equalisers. The game crackled, the momentum swung, and on 53 minutes Parrott stepped up.
His finish completed the turnaround and sealed a triumphant return to Europe’s top table for the Spaniards. Lille’s night worsened when Ethan Mbappe, younger brother of Kylian, was sent off, leaving them to chase the game with 10 men and no reward.
Marin’s moment for AEK
The final act of the night came in Greece, where AEK Athens edged LASK 1-0. The match lacked the chaos of Madrid-Inter or Dortmund-Villarreal, but it had its own flash of brilliance.
Razvan Marin decided it. One stunning free-kick, one clean strike, one goal that separated Greek champions from Austrian champions.
On the first night of this stretched-out league phase, the themes were already clear: big names delivering, old storylines revived, new ones written. Mourinho is back, Haaland is still relentless, Villa have a pulse, and Betis have found a new hero.
The Champions League has only just started. It already feels like it has a season’s worth of questions waiting to be answered.
