The Serie A champions survived for more than an hour with 10 men, following defender Thiago Motta's red card, and only conceded a goal by Gerard Pique six minutes from time as they went through to next month's final in Madrid 3-2 on aggregate.
VIDEO:Watch Mourinho's full-time celebrations
GALLERY:Barca 1-0 Inter
"It was incredibly tense today, against a team such as Barcelona, with 10 men, it was something historical, mythical," a strangely subdued Mourinho told a news conference.
"It was the sweetest 1-0 defeat of my life but the players out there didn't deserve to lose. We were perfect tactically and defensively.
"We showed great discipline," he added. "We worked very hard to deny them space."
Inter reaching their first European Cup final since 1972 had the Portuguese showman's fingerprints all over it.
From the pre-match news conferences to the jubilant celebrations at the final whistle, Mourinho's presence was all pervading in Barcelona.
"The game started badly. Bringing Chivu on made us more defensive but the game went as we thought," said Mourinho.
"It was much harder with 10 men because Barcelona are the best team in the world at circulating the ball but we kept them away from our goal."
Motta's sending off after 28 minutes had him laughing ironically, rolling his eyes, arms outstretched.
"I think a team who win everything don't know how to lose. They are bad losers and so am I," Mourinho said.
"Valdes thought I was provoking the home fans. I was going to celebrate with
