Jose Mourinho Defends Vinicius Junior After Chaotic Inter Win

Real Madrid got the result they wanted on Tuesday night. The performance was something else entirely.

A 2-1 win over Inter Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu kept their Champions League campaign on track, with Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde on the scoresheet before Carlos Augusto dragged the Italians back into it. The scoreline looked tight. The game itself was wild.

Mourinho had said it before a ball was kicked: he would happily take an ugly victory over a glorious defeat. Ninety frantic minutes later, he had exactly that.

“A crazy match,” he called it on Movistar. Not with a smile, more with a shrug of a man who has seen too much football to be surprised by anything. “We are often criticised when the match is boring, and today it was crazy, and it could have ended 7-6 without any problem.”

Madrid’s midfield never really got a grip. Inter flooded the centre, made early changes, and forced Mourinho into damage limitation rather than control.

“Our midfield was weak, they made changes very early, and I did not have many options in midfield,” he admitted, laying bare the imbalance that left his back line exposed and his forwards running on scraps.

The pressure came in waves. Inter kept creating. Madrid kept wobbling.

Thibaut Courtois, inevitably, became central to the story. The Belgian produced a string of saves that held the scoreline together, yet Mourinho refused to turn the night into a one-man show between the posts.

“Courtois made many saves, but how many goals did we waste on the counter-attacks? It was a wonderful match,” he said, pointing to the missed chances that could have turned the final minutes into a procession instead of a siege.

Valverde, who scored one of Madrid’s goals, also earned a public nod from his coach. Mourinho highlighted the pressing and collective work that underpinned the key moments, insisting that the goals were not just about individual brilliance but about a team forcing mistakes high up the pitch.

Then came the subject he clearly wanted to address: Vinicius Junior.

The Brazilian forward was jeered by sections of the home crowd despite the win. His touch is not as sharp, his acceleration not as devastating as at his peak, and the Bernabeu can be unforgiving when it senses a dip.

Mourinho pushed back hard.

“He has not yet reached his full readiness, and he is not yet the Vinicius we know, but he works a lot, and whoever works and gives everything he has deserves respect,” he said, drawing a line in the sand between form and effort.

No excuses, no sugar-coating his current level. Just a clear message to the stands: effort counts, and this player is still giving it.

The win over Inter leaves Madrid with questions in midfield, a goalkeeper in inspired form, and a star forward fighting to rediscover his edge under the glare of his own supporters.

Next comes Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga. Vinicius now has the stage, and the noise around him, to answer back in the only way that truly matters: with the ball at his feet.