Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho reserved special praise for striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic after his team kicked off their Champions League campaign with victory at Panathinaikos.

Ibrahimovic did not score in Tuesdays 2-0 triumph in Athens but provided superb assists for team-mates Mancini and Adriano, prompting Mourinho to hail his contribution.

"Zlatan is fantastic and that is why I hugged him at the end of the game," said Mourinho. "Zlatan doesn't need to score in order to be a key player.

"I told my players before the start of the game that if we thought we were the better side in the encounter we had to win it.

"They did just that so congratulations to all of them. I am satisfied."

Another player who excelled was Brazilian forward Adriano, who struck in the 85th minute to put tmeone like him to kill the game off.

"Now all we need to do is to win our three home encounters in our group to qualify for the next round."

Adriano also paid tribute to Ibrahimovic after the Swede provided him with an assist to score his first goal at the San Siro side in 11 months.

"I thanked Zlatan because he is a good friend besides being a great player."

The Brazilian returned to Inter this summer after a six-month loan at Sao Paulo and is keen to rediscover the form he lacked in recent seasons.

"I have to thank Mourinho for giving me great confidence at the start of the campaign," said Adriano.

"But more than the goal I am happy because I have been able to wear the Nerazzurri colours again."

Imbrahimovic added: "We've won and this is a good thing to change history. We got the three points we wanted and now we can look ahead with optimism."