Mourinho sets the record straight ahead of Leipzig clash: "The only untouchable thing is the crest"

Vinicius Junior has been at the center of the conversation in Madrid for weeks now, and someone was bound to ask Mourinho about the Brazilian's role in the locker room. The answer left no doubt about how the Portuguese coach views the hierarchy within the squad.

At the press conference ahead of the Real Madrid, Leipzig Champions League matchup, Mourinho was direct: "the only untouchable thing is the crest." No favoritism, not even for the stars.

The only thing that's untouchable is the crest. I don't like this concept of an untouchable player. What makes a player untouchable is his performance on the field.Jose Mourinho

A short statement, but one that makes his philosophy clear: nobody here has a guaranteed spot just because of the name on the back of their shirt. Performance rules, full stop.

The referee under the microscope after the VAR controversies

Current league affairs also made their way into the press conference. Following the latest VAR controversies in La Liga, Mourinho was asked to weigh in on who would referee the European clash, and he did so with praise rarely heard in this kind of press conference.

Tomorrow we have a referee who doesn't mess around. He's extremely high quality, and I'm very happy to have a referee like that for an important game. A referee who doesn't need VAR to run a match.Jose Mourinho

He didn't go into further detail, but the message was clear: total confidence in the man who will be running the game, with no need to lean on technology to sort out close calls.

Arda Güler and Valverde, pieces that shift depending on the opponent

Another topic that came up was the positioning of Arda Güler and Fede Valverde, two players who have been rotating between the wing and central midfield in recent weeks. Mourinho explained there's no fixed formula, it all depends on the match at hand.

They're different players, but both have the ability to adapt to different positions. Every match and every team is different. The other day we played with a different midfield setup. I try to put together the best lineup for the team. There's a time for everything, and I try to do things the right way. Sometimes I'll be right, and sometimes I won't.Jose Mourinho

An honest answer, with no hiding behind certainties he doesn't have. The coach himself admits he won't always get his decisions right, but the idea is always to find what's best for the team depending on the opponent.

Espí and Mbappé together from the start? Mourinho sees it as complicated

Finally, he was asked about the possibility of seeing Carlos Espí and Kylian Mbappé sharing the starting eleven, and here the coach was fairly clear that it isn't his usual plan.

Difficult. Having both of them play in a 4-4-2 is possible, but with the wide players we have, it would turn into a 4-2-4. And with a setup like that, I don't think we could win. Timing is a different matter, like what happened in Rome. When a team is tired, it can't string two passes together, it's more focused on destroying than building... In those moments we can go for setups like that.Jose Mourinho

In other words: he doesn't rule it out completely, but he saves it for specific moments in a match, when the opponent no longer has the legs to build play and it's time to close out the game with more numbers forward.