Not the dressing-down everyone expected
Everyone was waiting for the usual Special One blow-up. A player turns in a so-so display, ends up scrapping with half the opposition, and suddenly he is making headlines for everything except his football. The script almost wrote itself.
It did not happen. According to Marca, Jose Mourinho spoke with Vinicius Jr on Monday. Not to rip into him. To tell him he will always be in his corner.
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Back to a wild Sunday
Real Madrid opened their season with a 2-1 win away at Espanyol, sealed by Carlos Espi with minutes left. The kind of result that settles the scoreline and leaves every other question wide open.
Vinicius had a day to forget. He was tangled up with several Catalan players, and he was goaded plenty, to be fair. Espanyol talked about diving, then went one better by posting a mocking message on social media. Real pushed back hard, Courtois leading the charge. Mourinho condemned what he saw as a coordinated pile-on aimed at his forward.
A gamble he is happy to take
The Portuguese knows full well his No 7 has to get better at handling his emotions. Stop biting at every jab. He would rather help him do that than hammer him in public.
There is a cold calculation behind it. Mourinho sees the Brazilian as essential, and he loves the Flamengo academy product for the constant edge he brings, exactly the kind of player he wants: ambitious, competitive, never passive. Strip that out of Vinicius and there is not much Vinicius left.
Whether the backing will be enough is another matter. The season has barely started, and stadiums in Spain have long memories.
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