Real Madrid 2-1 Inter: result and report

Report

Real Madrid beat Inter 2-1 in the Champions League. The final margin was a single goal, but the chances suggest they should have won far more comfortably. The home win was the result most expected before kick-off, though the scoreline makes it look closer than it was.

Real Madrid did their damage early. Kylian Mbappé scored on 14 minutes from Brahim Díaz's pass, and Federico Valverde made it 2-0 nine minutes later.

Inter did not find a way back until the 77th minute, when Lautaro Martínez set up Carlos Augusto. That goal gave Inter a late route back into the game, but Real Madrid held their lead to the end.

Real Madrid's chances against the scoreline

The striking part is how much Real Madrid created with so little of the ball. They had only 36% possession and eight shots to Inter's 13. Despite that, they finished with 3.62 xG to Inter's 2.03 and created nine big chances to Inter's four.

They missed seven of those big chances. Real Madrid and Inter also hit the woodwork once each. So the narrow scoreline says more about Real Madrid's finishing than about Inter coming close to a point.

Inter: plenty of ball, fewer clear openings

Inter had the ball and the territory. They held 64% possession, made 94 dangerous attacks to Real Madrid's 39 and produced 17 key passes to eight. They also sustained more pressure across the match, and Lautaro Martínez was named player of the match.

Yet all that volume produced only four big chances. Inter spent long spells around the Real Madrid box, while Real Madrid kept finding the clearer openings at the other end.