Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan: Thibaut Courtois shines and Kylian Mbappe scores in Champions League opener | OneFootball

15-time winners begin Champions League campaign with hard-fought win

Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde both scored as Real Madrid beat Inter Milan, though Thibaut Courtois was the star of the show.

The Real Madrid goalkeeper was kept busy all night on matchday one of the league phase in this season’s Champions League, making saves from Curtis Jones, Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu.

Courtois was eventually beaten with 13 minutes of normal time remaining, but Carlos Augusto’s goal proved a mere consolation as the damage done in the first half was decisive.

Despite making a strong start, Inter fell behind when Brahim Diaz pounced on a Yann Bisseck mistake and played in Mbappe who rolled the ball into the net from close range.

The Frenchman, after netting 15 goals in the campaign last season, was presented with the Champions League Golden Boot award prior to kick-off by Luis Figo and is now up and running in the new campaign.

Furthermore, Mbappe is now the joint-fifth highest scorer in the Champions League - level with Real Madrid legend Raul on 71 goals - and will have Karim Benzema (90) in his sights.

If Madrid’s first goal was soft, their second was a gift as Inter goalkeeper Josep Martinez got caught attempting to play out from the back as Valverde nipped in to double the home side’s lead against the run of play.

Bisseck and Martinez, to their credit, bounced back from their mistakes to keep Inter in the game. The former made a superb last ditch tackle to deny Vinicius Junior and the latter made big saves from Mbappe and Jude Bellingham.

Augusto’s goal gave Inter hope of leaving the Santiago Bernabeu with a point, but Courtois made one final save from a deflected Henrikh Mkhitaryan shot to ensure Real Madrid held on for the win.