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Cristian Chivu has said Inter are fully focused on “writing important pages in the history” of the club as they get ready to open their Champions League campaign against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Nerazzurri have been handed one of the hardest possible starts in Europe, returning to the ground where Jose Mourinho led them to one of the most unforgettable wins in their history in 2010.

This time, Mourinho will be in the opposite technical area after recently going back to Real Madrid, while Chivu will take charge of Inter in his second Champions League campaign as the club’s head coach.

Chivu was part of Mourinho’s treble-winning Inter side and still has a strong personal bond with the Portuguese manager, but he made it clear that his own football ideas have grown on a separate path.

“We have an obligation to write important pages in the history of this club,” Chivu told reporters in his pre-match press conference.

“In recent years, this club has reached important standards, and we have to write other pages of its history.

“My emotions in this stadium? It has become even more beautiful. Today it is even more modern and it is a pleasure for everyone to have the opportunity to play a match in this stadium.

“Mourinho is a special person for me. Meeting him was a stroke of luck. He helped me during the most difficult moment of my life, and I will never forget that.”

Despite his close relationship with Mourinho, Chivu dismissed the idea that the former Real Madrid coach has directly influenced his tactical thinking.

“I have never copied anyone,” he explained. “I have my own idea of football, built as a player and during my years in the youth sector, where I had the opportunity to experiment with things that are helping me these years.”

Inter face a major test in Madrid, with the Nerazzurri not having won at the Bernabeu for 60 years. Chivu accepts how difficult the challenge is, but does not want his side to move away from its identity.

“Playing at the Bernabeu is never easy for anyone. It has been 60 years since Inter won here,” he said.

“Many teams have struggled to win here. We will do our best, but without changing who we are. We want to be dominant, we want to show that we have grown, and there is no perfect way to approach Real Madrid.”

The coach was also asked whether new signings such as Jones and Stones could start, but he underlined that the full squad will have a role to play.

“It is not important who starts, but the 16 players who have the opportunity to contribute to the match,” Chivu said. “What happened in the first three league games is evidence of that.

“Tomorrow you will see my choices and the ones I make.”

Inter’s build-up has also been affected by the short gap after Saturday’s Serie A match, with Chivu admitting he would have preferred his players to have had more time to recover.

“I would perhaps have chosen one more day of rest after such an exhausting and beautiful match as Saturday evening,” he admitted. “But this is the schedule and we have to get used to it.”

The Nerazzurri have built up plenty of recent Champions League experience after reaching the latter stages in recent seasons, but Chivu knows there is very little room for complacency in the competition’s current format.

“In the last two editions, we all understood the points needed to have the possibility of finishing in the top eight,” he said.

“We also understood what it means not to qualify. The playoffs are tricky games; a victory in the Champions League is never guaranteed.”

Asked about Mourinho’s comment that it is surprising Inter have not won the Champions League in recent years, Chivu replied: “The question to ask him is whether he wanted Inter to win.

“We have gone far thanks to the competence of the directors and the ability of the players, who for the last eight years have shown important things.

“With ideas and work, through merit and ability, we are in a situation where many people think we can do it.

“The Champions League is cruel. Even those who win it have to overcome certain moments and need a little luck. We simply want to be competitive, to be up to the competition and to what the club has achieved in recent years.”

Chivu also brushed aside comparisons between his current team and the Inter side that won Europe under Mourinho.

“I never compare different teams or different periods,” he said. “This team is trying to achieve things and has already done beautiful things.

“It is a group of great players who themselves want to write pages of history. They have played in two finals and lost them, but reaching two finals is never easy.

“Every team lives in its own time. Comparisons are not right to make, but we want to write important pages.”

Chivu was also asked how many points Inter would need to secure a place in the Champions League’s top eight.

“Sixteen points are needed, 15 are not enough,” he said. “We have to do our best. We must not become obsessed with getting points in particular matches.”

The Inter coach also said Mourinho’s Real Madrid have made a decent start to the season despite losing their latest game.

“The start of a season is never simple, and it is still early,” Chivu explained. “There are players who still have to get used to what it means to play for Real Madrid, which is never simple.

“The start has been balanced. They lost their last match but undeservedly. They have an important coach who knows how certain things need to be done and players of the highest level.”

Chivu was then asked what he learned from Mourinho during their time together at Inter.

“He is very good at immediately adapting to the reality he represents and transmitting his ideas and mentality,” Chivu said.

“He is a winner, without a shadow of a doubt. He knows how to transmit certain things at certain moments. Few are like him.

“He has shown everywhere what it means to be a winner. He has won everywhere. I am sure Real Madrid will have a great season.”

For Chivu, though, Tuesday’s meeting is ultimately about the present rather than memories of Inter’s famous 2010 triumph. The Nerazzurri travel to Madrid aiming to show how much they have developed and to begin another European campaign with the ambition of making more history of their own.