Mbappé ties into UCL's top five

There was a personal subplot running through this one for Mourinho, who returned to the ground where he spent three seasons in charge between 2010 and 2013, now leading Inter against the club that used to employ him. Real Madrid won the meeting, and the header on the Bernabéu scoreboard belonged, once again, to Mbappé.

The France forward's goal was enough to nudge him into joint-fifth on the Champions League and old European Cup's all-time scoring charts, a list that has stood for decades as the sport's most exclusive scoring club. Getting there in his second season at the Bernabéu says plenty about how quickly he has settled into a competition he already dominated at Paris Saint-Germain.

A season already in full flow

Mbappé has been relentless in Madrid colours since arriving from PSG, and this campaign is following the same pattern, with goals arriving in bunches across LaLiga and Europe alike.

Xabi Alonso's side sit third in LaLiga with nine points from four games, a 3-0-1 record, and remain unbeaten at the Bernabéu this term. A Champions League win over a side of Inter's pedigree fits the pattern of a squad expected to compete on every front this season.

Mourinho's return, minus the result

For Mourinho, walking back into the Bernabéu as an opponent rather than the man in the home dugout always carried its own weight, regardless of how the scoreline read. Inter came to Madrid as a side with genuine European pedigree of their own, and left instead having watched Mbappé add to a scoring record that keeps climbing further into the competition's history books.

The group phase is only getting started, but Real Madrid have the kind of early statement result and individual milestone that tends to set the tone for a European campaign.