Vinicius Under Mourinho's Support Amid Struggles

José Mourinho did not try to hide the truth. Vinicius is off his game.

But in the same breath, he made it clear: this version of Vinicius still has his full backing.

“He isn't at his best, and he knows it,” Mourinho said after the final whistle, speaking with the bluntness that has followed him throughout his career. “But he's working hard to be the Vinicius who decides games. Without being at his best, he's working harder than ever.”

The Brazilian winger again fell short of the explosive standard he once set on the left flank, yet Mourinho chose to focus on the dirty work. The tracking back. The pressing. The constant running when his touch and sharpness deserted him.

“In the moments that he wasn't able to drop back and defend, it was because of fatigue,” Mourinho explained. “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.”

A star searching for his spark

This is not an isolated dip. It follows a bruising 2025-26 campaign in which Vinicius became a lightning rod for frustration at the Bernabéu, criticised by sections of the Madrid support as his form tailed off.

Despite that, he doubled down on his commitment in the summer, signing on for the long term and publicly embracing the pressure that comes with wearing white in Madrid. The response on the pitch, though, has been slower than he or the club expected: one goal and two assists in five appearances so far this season.

Those numbers are not disastrous. For Vinicius, they feel underwhelming.

Against Inter, the pattern repeated itself. He found himself in promising one-on-one situations on the left, the very scenarios that once made him unplayable. This time, the end product never quite arrived.

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

The message was clear: the execution is missing, the effort is not.

Mourinho fights on two fronts

It was not just Vinicius under the microscope. The Inter match also exposed the strain on Mourinho’s squad and the compromises he is having to make.

With Bernardo Silva, Arda Guler and Eduardo Camavinga all suspended, the coach had to improvise in the heart of midfield. The solution was bold and uncomfortable: Trent Alexander-Arnold pushed inside from his natural full-back role to operate centrally.

“It’s hard for Trent,” Mourinho said. “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.”

The difference showed. Alexander-Arnold tried to adapt, but the angles, the distances, the constant pressure behind him – all of it dragged him out of his comfort zone.

“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,” Mourinho added. “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.”

That last line could have applied to more than one player in white.

Between a misfiring star forward, a patched-up midfield and the tactical headache of facing Inter’s three-at-the-back system with aggressive wing-backs, Madrid were forced into a scrap rather than a showcase. For the wingers, it was a grind: track the wing-backs, then somehow still have the legs to attack.

“Playing against a side that plays with three at the back, with wing-backs, it's very hard for the wingers,” Mourinho stressed. Vinicius, he insisted, embraced that burden.

Waiting for the old Vinicius

Mourinho’s stance could easily have been harsher. Instead, he chose protection over public rebuke, linking his support directly to work rate.

“If he works, he'll always have my support,” he said. “He worked very hard for the team.”

The implication is unmistakable: as long as Vinicius keeps running, Mourinho will keep defending him. The coach is betting that the goals and decisive moments will follow the graft.

The question now is how long Madrid can wait for their winger to rediscover the version of himself that once tilted big nights almost on his own.