Real Madrid: Mbappé and Vinicius “compare themselves on everything”, and Mourinho benches the Brazilian

The answer came before kick-off. For the visit of Villarreal, José Mourinho named Kylian Mbappé, recovered from his knee injury, in his starting eleven and left Vinicius Junior on the bench, hours after The Athletic published a long analysis of how the two stars fit together. The problem the piece describes sits in one channel: both players want the same one, on the left.

Two players, one channel

According to The Athletic, relayed by RMC Sport and Foot Mercato, the two men have no personal problem away from the pitch. On it, their average positions are “virtually the same”: Mbappé drifts left into Vinicius’s zone, the two regularly get in each other’s way and the box stays empty. A source close to the dressing room told the outlet that the pair compare themselves on everything, and that if one does not defend, neither does the other. A regular visitor to the training ground put it in the same terms: a football and ego problem, but mostly a football problem.

The piece also touches on the Ballon d’Or, whose ceremony falls on 26 October: Vinicius is reported to have taken badly the club’s low-key campaign for Mbappé, while Raul Asencio has called the Frenchman the best player among the nominees, in an interview with As.

Mourinho decides, and the teamsheet with him

The diagnosis predates the Portuguese coach: the same mismatch existed last season under Xabi Alonso and then Alvaro Arbeloa, and Real go into this eighth matchday fourth in the table, five wins and two defeats, straight after the 2-1 derby loss to Atlético. One former member of the staff sees no halfway house: the problem will not be solved until either Vinicius or Kylian Mbappé leaves.

Around the pitch, much remains unverified: the dressing-room “fight” reported by radio Cadena SER involved two unidentified players and has nothing to back it, and at his Friday press conference Mourinho denied any tension with Mbappé, having already called the criticism of the Frenchman “ridiculous”. The Athletic had written that Mourinho did not plan to bench Vinicius; the evening’s teamsheet said otherwise. A source close to the coach said the international break was spent looking for internal and tactical solutions for a team that must defend better and be more efficient in attack.

At the Bernabéu tonight, the left channel has one owner. Vinicius will wait for his turn on the bench.