There is a certain kind of Jose Mourinho press conference that tells you more about a season than any scoreline, and Monday at Valdebebas was one of them.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Elche, the Mourinho Real Madrid Elche briefing produced a pointed message for Vinicius Junior, unusually generous praise for Arda Guler, a careful plan for Aurelien Tchouameni – and a parting shot about penalties that was clearly aimed well beyond the room.
The Mourinho Real Madrid Elche brief: “I want to win”
Asked what he wanted to see at the Martinez Valero, where kick-off is 21:30 CEST (20:30 UK), the Portuguese kept it deliberately plain. “I want to win; I’d like to play well and win,” he said, in quotes carried by Madrid Universal. Simple enough – but it followed a weekend in which Los Blancos beat Rayo Vallecano 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu and were still whistled off, having produced a superb first half and a distinctly ordinary second.
He also softened the timeline he set out earlier in his reign. “I ask for three months, others ask for ten years,” he told reporters, per Mundo Deportivo. “What I mean is that in three months I want to be better than today, but I have nothing magic.”
A pointed message for Vinicius
The most revealing answer concerned Vinicius Junior. Mourinho was careful to praise the Brazilian’s all-round work before making his real point: goals.
“His best form is when he scores,” he said. “Providing assists is important, working for the team is very important, his day-to-day work is important, and he does it very well. But there’s another side to Vinicius. A Vinicius who arrived at Benfica last year and who, given a chance, scored a goal and went home. He’s lacking that top-class performance.”
Compliment, then a higher bar: a familiar device, and it lands in a week in which the winger has already had to be defended by his coach over the Bernabeu’s reaction.
“Top, top” – the Arda Guler verdict
On Guler there was no such hedging. Having deflected a similar question on Saturday, Mourinho went in both feet first this time.
“Physically, he’s been transformed, but for me his quality of play is incredible – his vision, his organisation of the game,” the coach said. “He’s a lad with fantastic potential and very impressive statistics. He’s a player who has a huge influence on the game, but I don’t want to go so far as to say ‘top, top, top’ three times – though I can certainly say ‘top, top’.”
The numbers argue for him. The 21-year-old has created 24 chances in La Liga this season at 9.5 per 90 minutes, five of them in barely 20 minutes against Rayo – form that has reopened the selection debate around Yan Diomande.
Tchouameni’s minutes, carefully counted
Mourinho confirmed Tchouameni will feature at Elche, but with the handbrake still partly on. “I’m thinking in terms of minutes. Against Inter he played 10-15, and we were all a bit unsure. Against Rayo we went up to 20-25. In the next few matches we’ll increase that further. He’s getting better and better; he’s feeling stronger and more confident. He’ll play tomorrow. At the moment, I can’t tell you for how long.”
That measured approach fits a fixture list that offers no slack, with the Madrid derby at the Metropolitano arriving on Sunday – and it follows Mourinho’s recent insistence that the Frenchman remains central to his midfield plans.
The parting dig about penalties
He saved the best for last. Having answered on rotation, fitness and pressing, Mourinho stood up, then turned back: “No questions about the penalties? That’s strange, isn’t it?”
As Marca read it, the remark was aimed first at the press and then at Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, both involved in contested weekend decisions – the spot-kick after Lamine Yamal went down, and the handball that led to the opener at Anoeta. Mourinho declined to engage with Yamal’s own comments – “I don’t give opinions on a player’s words” – but the point was made.
A press conference full of football, and one sentence of mischief. Some things about a Mourinho Real Madrid do not need three months.
