Mourinho Says Vinicius Should Have Left Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said on Saturday that if he were winger Vinicius Junior, he would have left the club this summer.

Vinicius was sent off during Madrid’s match against Villarreal last weekend for pulling hair. He received a four-match ban, which means he will miss the Clasico against Barcelona on October 25.

At 26, Vinicius has faced regular abuse from opposing fans since he joined Madrid in 2018. He has dealt with racial abuse many times during his time at the club.

“He’s a spectacular kid who it’s easy to have a good relationship with,” Mourinho told reporters.

“He’s a fantastic boy, tremendous credit to him for the fact that he keeps living and surviving and still having a smile…

“If it were me in his place, probably I wouldn’t be here. This past summer, I would have forced a move to a league, a country, to somewhere with rival clubs and stadiums that respect him.”

In the summer, Vinicius signed a new contract with Real Madrid until 2032.

There are questions about whether Madrid can have attacking stars Vinicius, Kylian Mbappe, and Jude Bellingham play together without losing balance.

“Because he loves Real Madrid, for loving the club and the city, for believing that things can always improve, he renewed and he keeps on smiling,” Mourinho continued.

“No one or nobody can… well, influence him negatively yes, because he’s human… but take away his joy of living and working and being with his teammates, no, no one can do that.”

Mourinho took Vinicius off during the 4-3 Champions League win against Roma on Wednesday. The winger is still trying to find the form that helped him win the trophy twice with Carlo Ancelotti.

Mourinho expressed relief that Vinicius’s ban was only four matches. He thought that some people at the Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee “would give him one or two more.”

Madrid will face Sevilla on Sunday. They are trying not to fall further behind league leaders Barcelona, who will visit Real Betis later on Saturday.

Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have won all their matches this season and are six points ahead of fourth-placed Real Madrid.

Los Blancos and Mourinho have criticized referees for some of their results, including the 2-1 derby loss to Atletico Madrid in September.

On Friday, Real Madrid asked for La Liga president Javier Tebas to resign. This was after he compared the club’s efforts to discredit referees to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

Tebas later tried to clarify that he was not comparing Nazis' ideology but rather the “propaganda techniques.”

“I don’t want to talk about this, there are limits, and there are limits. You can only excuse it if it’s a clinical case, otherwise there’s no excuse,” Mourinho said.

“I don’t want to go down that road. Madrid and its fans understand what it is up against.

“For the prestige that the league has abroad, for being the current world champions, it’s better if we try to keep this here and not let it get out (to the world).