Real Madrid hosted Inter Milan on Matchday 3 at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano looking for their first win and that's exactly what they got beating their Italian opponents 3-2 in a tough battle.
A great first half for Los Blancos :
Zinedine Zidane group was motivated to get their first win of the group stage campaign after two lackluster performances that saw them lose to Shakhtar Donetsk and draw with Borussia Monchengladbach. In the fourth minute, Marco Asensio had the first chance of the game to score with the first shot on target but Samir Handanovic made the early save.
It looked like the home team was controlling the game and putting their Italian opponents on their toes applying good pressure on the defense looking for the game's first goal. In the 10th minute, Inter finally got their first chance of the match but the ball would go off the bar.
One minute later Lautaro Martinez had a great chance at goal but Thibault Courtois was there to make the save and keep the game level at zero. Two minutes later it was Tony Kroos turn to try and score but Handanovic returned the favor by making another great save. Eight minutes later he would make another save once again on Asensio.
Four minutes later Karim Benzema would finally break the deadlock going in on Handanovic and did a great deke before putting the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 for Real Madrid. That goal seemed to motivate them even more and created more hunger to increase their lead.
They did just that in the 33rd minute when Sergio Ramos would head in a corner past Handanovic to double Madrid lead to two. Inter would respond almost immediately two minutes later when Martinez would get a great feed from Nicolo Barella and beat Courtois with a great strike to make it 2-1.
The first half finished on that scoreline and Madrid was 45 minutes away from three points and their first win of the Champions League group stage.
An even closer second half :
Inter came out firing at the beginning of the second half and it was the complete opposite to the first with the Italian team putting pressure on Madrid looking for the equalizer. They got it in the 68th minute when Ivan Perisic got a great shot on target that would beat Courtois left post to make it 2-2.
That goal once again switched the momentum and Inter were looking dangerous looking for the game-winning goal and Madrid looked in trouble. Luckily for Madrid, they started to push back and the game seemed to level out with both clubs getting good chances.
In the 80th minute, Madrid finally scored the game-winner when Rodrygo who had come in as a sub for Asensio would get a great cross pass from Vinicius Jr who had also been subbed in for Hazard and would get a great shot past Handanovic for the 3-2 lead.
Inter pushed very hard for the last 13 minutes but just couldn't solve Courtois and the whistle blew to give Madrid the three points they desperately needed to stay alive in the group.
These two clubs will meet again in three weeks on Matchday 4 this time at the San Siro in Milan.