The good news for Real Madrid is that it won. The bad news is that Tuesday's 3-2, much-needed Champions League victory over Inter Milan was another scratchy, scrappy performance that did little to suggest this is a team with any serious hope of challenging for this season’s European title. For now, though, what is important is the three points. The possibility of failing to make it through to the knockout phase for the first time since 1997 is fading. But this is nothing like the standard to which the club aspires.
For Inter, meanwhile, the defeat followed a familiar pattern.