Mourinho Supports Vinicius During Tough Times

José Mourinho did not try to hide it. Vinicius is not the player who used to rip games open on his own – at least not right now. But as he walked into his post-match press conference after the draw with Inter, the Real Madrid coach made one thing clear: he is not about to abandon his winger.

“He isn't at his best, and he knows it,” Mourinho admitted, before immediately shifting the focus to the work Vinicius is putting in without the ball. “But he's working hard to be the Vinicius who decides games. Without being at his best, he's working harder than ever.”

That was the theme of Mourinho’s defence. Not the dribbles. Not the goals. The grind.

When Vinicius failed to track back late on, Mourinho refused to blame attitude. For him, it was simple: the legs had gone.

“In the moments that he wasn't able to drop back and defend, it was because of fatigue. I have to value that a lot. I have a lot of respect for this Vinicius. The time will come when he decides games, and wins us games.”

Mourinho backs Vinicius through slump

The Brazilian is living through a complicated stretch. Last season, 2025-26, was bruising – a campaign punctuated by whistles from sections of the Bernabéu and constant scrutiny of his performances. Even so, he chose to commit his long-term future to Madrid in the summer, a clear statement that he intends to ride out the storm.

The response on the pitch has been slower than he or the club expected. One goal and two assists in five appearances is a modest return for a player used to setting the attacking tone. The numbers underline what the eye already sees: this is not yet the explosive Vinicius who once terrified full-backs on a weekly basis.

Mourinho, though, is clinging to a different metric – effort.

“If he works, he'll always have my support,” he said. “He worked very hard for the team. Playing against a side that plays with three at the back, with wing-backs, it's very hard for the wingers.”

The tactical picture matters here. Inter’s back three and aggressive wing-backs pinned Madrid’s wide players in awkward zones, forcing them to shuttle up and down the flank and constantly make decisions in transition. It is a system designed to suffocate space for exactly the kind of winger Vinicius is.

Even so, Mourinho did not shy away from what he expects when his No. 7 is firing.

“Obviously with the one-on-ones he had on the left wing, with Vini at his best, he'd kill the game. That's what we expect of him. But he gave everything.”

Expectation and understanding, laid side by side. The bar remains high. The patience, for now, remains intact.

Makeshift Madrid and the Trent experiment

Vinicius was not the only player stretched to his limits. The match exposed some of the structural strain on Mourinho’s squad. Suspensions to Bernardo Silva, Arda Guler and Eduardo Camavinga stripped Real Madrid of creativity and balance in midfield, forcing the coach into an uncomfortable reshuffle.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, so often a quarterback from right-back, found himself pushed into central midfield. It was a solution born of necessity, not design, and Mourinho knew it.

“It's hard for Trent. I appreciate the effort he made, but with his characteristics, the specificity needed to play full-back or central midfield, it's completely different physically,” he explained.

The difference in perspective – and responsibility – told.

“He had some losses of the ball, because it's not the same playing with the whole field in front of you, and playing with half the field behind you. He's played there a few times with Liverpool and the national team, but, it's completely different. He didn't have more to give.”

Those words carried no sting, only recognition. Alexander-Arnold emptied the tank in a role that does not yet fit him like a second skin. Just as with Vinicius, Mourinho chose to highlight the sacrifice rather than the shortcomings.

Madrid walk away from the Inter clash with more questions about their attacking fluency and squad balance, but also with a coach publicly nailing his colours to the mast. Vinicius will be the one asked to turn tight games again. The only unknown is how long it will take before he starts killing them on his own terms.