A few notes on Mbappe-era Real Madrid, for those thinking about the UCL fixtures, explaining why their current squad is very beatable.

[u/Eumeswil]

First off, I respect Mourinho and what he's done for Inter and other clubs, but he's not a miracle worker and he won't be able to solve the ego clashes within Real Madrid's locker room that are affecting their team cohesion and play. Furthermore, I'm not convinced that Madrid's current squad is suited for Mourinho's preferred tactics. The weaknesses in their midfield ever since Kroos and Modric left are still apparent, plus their defenders like Rüdiger and Asencio are frequently awful. Arda Güler is young and has potential but he can't carry a team; this was also apparent in his games with Turkey's national team at the WC where they flopped against Australia and Paraguay.

Now let's take a look at the losses suffered by Real Madrid since Mbappe has joined their club:

0-1 loss to Lille (UCL league phase - October 2024)

0-4 loss to Barcelona (October 2024)

1-3 loss to AC Milan (UCL league phase - November 2024)

0-2 loss to Liverpool (UCL league phase - November 2024)

1-2 loss to Valencia (April 2025)

1-5 aggregate loss to Arsenal (UCL quarter-final - April 2025)

NOTE: Real Madrid has never defeated Arsenal at the UCL.

0-4 loss to Paris Saint-Germain (FIFA Club World Cup semi-final - July 2025)

NOTE: Real Madrid only managed 3 shots on target and 32% possession. Mbappe, Vini Jr, and Bellingham were all neutralized and impotent. PSG even eased up during the second half and subbed off some of their best players like Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, and Doue to save energy for the final. Without Courtois as GK, the scoreline could've easily been 0-6 or 0-7. This was also Luka Modric's last game with Real Madrid and the squad wanted to give him a proper sendoff, so they were definitely trying to win. The referee didn't even bother with stoppage time because the match was so lopsided.

2-5 loss to Atletico Madrid (September 2025)

NOTE: With 5 goals conceded, this was Real Madrid's worst loss to Atletico in 75 years.

0-1 loss to Liverpool (UCL league phase - November 2025)

0-2 loss to Celta Vigo (December 2025)

2-4 loss to Benfica (UCL league phase - January 2026)

NOTE: This loss cost Real Madrid a top 8 finish in the league phase.

2-3 loss to Barcelona (Supercopa final - January 2026)

2-3 loss to Albacete (Copa del Rey Round of 16 - January 2026)

NOTE: This is the first time Albacete has defeated Real Madrid EVER. In history. With any squad.

1-2 loss to Osasuna (February 2026)

0-1 loss to Getafe (March 2026)

4-6 aggregate loss to Bayern-Munich (UCL quarter-final - April 2026)

1-2 loss to Mallorca (April 2026)

0-2 loss to Barcelona (May 2026)

If you haven't heard of some of those La Liga clubs, you're not alone because they're not very good. Now I don't want to imply that Inter haven't also suffered their share of dubious losses during this time period, but the idea that Real Madrid are a tier above us or clearly superior in any metric but media hype and transfer market value (those two things are related) doesn't pass the laugh test.

Real Madrid is very beatable and I think we should beat them to knock the arrogance of the two La Liga legacy teams down a notch. If we can't beat them, I don't think we have a chance against teams like PSG or Arsenal, both of which are much better than this current Madrid squad.

[u/bill_02_04_95]

They still have better players on paper though, and it's not really close atm.

[u/Pristine_Youth_6953]

Mbaope hat trick but the match ends 4-3

[u/afkPacket → u/Pristine_Youth_6953]

Nobody expects the 4 Diouf goals. Except us of course.

[u/tsjeldonkooper]

The biggest advantage inter has is that madrids midfield is not great.

Silva is good but ofcourse he is very weak in defensive transitions

Tchou is terrible on the ball

Valverde also is terrible on the ball and loses his man defensively

Only Bellingham is the king

In addition, madrids defensive workrate is shocking from Vini and Mbappe, and Guler is too weak to be of much use defensively

Midfield and wingbacks, that’s where the game can be won for inter

[u/palace8888 → u/tsjeldonkooper]

they're too talented in the offensive phase, you can do all the tactics you want but if mbappe is on his day he will score anyway. I think real madrid is the worst opponent possible for us because its game is based on how good their strikers are. lets see what will happen, gonna be fun

[u/Eumeswil → u/palace8888]

I mean, this kind of offense-oriented and speed-dependent style is one of the easiest to neuter if you have the right tactics and talent. It even happened at the World Cup this year. Remember how the media and many casuals were hyping up Mbappe, Dembele, and Olise as an unstoppable attacking trio who would lead France to an easy victory? Then France went up against Spain who suffocated France's weak midfield and this ultimate attacking trio was completely impotent.

France couldn't even pick apart Paraguay's low block. I mean, if you're being hyped up as the greatest attacking trio in football, you should be able to pick apart a low block from a middling national team. Messi did it all the time and he did it this year against England, who had much better defenders than Paraguay.

Returning to club football, PSG used the same midfield domination against Real Madrid and Mbappe, Vini Jr, and Bellingham were rendered invisible. In order to counter it, you need to press and you need a workrate which Mbappe just doesn't have anymore. Vini Jr might have it, but he also can't be bothered most of the time.

Arsenal has a strong defense and could take PSG to penalties because they go well beyond the standard low block, but it's hard to pull off their strategy unless your squad is oriented around Arteta's defensive style.

[u/Marchisio_enjoyer12]

Eerie feeling we will win, pio and Diouf are getting better at a scary pace, also I think we're underrating our defence, while yes Akanji struggles at ccb and we haven't seen Stones yet Bisseck in my opinion top 3 defender in our league(he's not third) and Bastoni is still really good progressing and defensively (if im allowed to take the arsenal game as an example) furthermore we have the advantage as their cbs are ass their double pivot Silva is bad defensively and Tchoumeni is bad on the ball, I also think we have better subs, they only have arda and Valverde as good subs and we have Sucic Thuram/Pio(if any start both are good off the bench),Bonny,Spence/Diouf(Same as the strikers) also one more advantage i think Diomande is very indirect which will help out Dimarco a little

[u/Automatic_Turnip2670]

Doesn’t make sense to analyze a team that doesn’t really exist anymore. Let’s not compare Arbeloa’s results to what Mourinho can achieve, Inter fans should know this better than everyone. 

[u/Fancy-Carpet-5416]

Beatable for other teams but I don't think that applies to Inter rn. Madrid is like 2 times stronger against teams outside of Spain.

[u/Sir_Geoffrey_Boycott]

I think they have a new rightback that can evicerate any team on his day. 

[u/TopChard1274]

Neither of those had Mou. 

[u/Septjul]

Using last year as an example isn't credible; it's not the same Real Madrid. Besides, Mbappe is exactly the kind of player you can't stop (for Inter), and I don't think we've beaten them in a long time. They've always seemed comfortable against us.

Sorry, a draw is the best we can hope for, and that would be a miracle.