Demichelis returns to the Bernabeu to face Mourinho, 16 years after that final with Bayern

Some matches carry a backstory with them, and this is one of those cases. On Wednesday, October 21, the Santiago Bernabeu once again brings together two paths that already crossed on an unforgettable Champions League night. Sixteen years after that final, Martin Demichelis and Jose Mourinho meet again, but no longer as rivals on the pitch: now a touchline separates them, and a bench of substitutes connects them.

Let's go back a bit. On May 22, 2010, in that same stadium, Demichelis started for a Bayern Munich side that fell 2-0 to Mourinho's Inter. Both goals came from Diego Milito, who found a way that night to break down a German defense that simply couldn't contain him. It was the capstone of a historic treble for the Italian side, and one of those defeats that stays etched in any defender's memory.

Now the script has new characters, though the stage is the same. The match is the third matchday of the league phase and kicks off at 4:00 PM (ARG/CHI/URU) and 2:00 PM (COL/PER/ECU), airing on Disney+ Plan Premium for South America. Demichelis had already hinted at what matchups like this mean when he spoke about the challenges waiting for him in the Champions League: "But I'll be facing Mourinho, for example, among many others. It will be a tremendous experience," he said. There's no explicit talk of revenge in his words, but there is an awareness of standing across from one of the most influential coaches of his generation.

Two teams arriving in opposite moments

The present adds another layer to the story. Demichelis' Leipzig arrives bruised after a 1-6 defeat to Bayern in the Bundesliga, though before that it had shown a good face with a 6-0 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt and a tight 1-0 win over PSV in Europe. These are results that speak to an inconsistent team still searching for its best version. After the loss to Bayern, Demichelis himself didn't hold back on the self criticism: "We have to apologize to our fans. You can lose at Munich, but not like that." And he went further: "It's a tough defeat. As a coach, I'm the most disappointed one. We were passive without the ball and showed no activity with it."

Real Madrid, on the other hand, arrives with momentum from two wins in the league phase: it opened with a 2-1 victory over Inter and then pulled off a 4-3 comeback win at Roma, having trailed by two goals. In LaLiga, Mourinho's side sits third with 21 points through nine matches. Ahead of that clash with Roma, the Portuguese coach had been clear about what it takes to compete in Europe: "We have to play very well because we'll have an important opponent in front of us." And on the pressure the squad puts on itself: "We have eight matches to get the points we need to qualify, but the pressure is something we put on ourselves because we want to win."

The identity Demichelis is searching for at Leipzig

Far from the anecdote of 2010, what's really at stake is how each coach interprets today's game. Demichelis has been insisting on a clear idea: "With the same methodology, which is not hiding, pressing, and as I always say, you attack through the pass. After that, the players are the real protagonists." But he also admitted that adapting to the Bundesliga wasn't automatic: "I come from Spain, where soccer is more about possession, and here, in the first few weeks, the players would just take off on me because here it's more about transitions. Well, we're trying to create a mix within what I like."

That search for balance was clear in the rout over Frankfurt, when Leipzig pressed high and attacked quickly the moment it won back the ball. "We tried to play fast and direct going forward. The guys were aggressive without the ball and looked to attack immediately when we won it back, and that's how the first two goals came," Demichelis explained. And he doesn't hide the ambition behind this European run: "We want every opponent to think that facing Leipzig will be very difficult," he said, before adding: "Measuring ourselves against the best in Europe is an incredible challenge, and that's exactly where a club with Leipzig's ambition and quality should be."

Mourinho, with a habit of changing games from the sideline

On the other side is a Mourinho who already showed, against Roma, that he knows how to read the moments of a match. The substitutions he made brought depth and energy, and Arda Guler ended up being decisive on set pieces during that comeback. After the win over Villarreal, the coach explained why he chose Federico Valverde as a right back: "I thought that Fede, at this point when we're playing and building with three at the back, could make a difference." And with the candor that characterizes him, he admitted: "As a coach, things often go wrong for me, but sometimes they go right."

That may well be the key to this match. If Leipzig presses with numbers and Real Madrid manages to break through that first line, the space left behind could be ripe for the home side. But if the Germans manage to win the ball high up and break quickly, they also have the tools to trouble a defense that struggled more than it should have against Roma. Demichelis already knows up close what it's like to face a Mourinho side with a well drawn up plan. Now it's his turn to try to flip the script from the other side of the field.