Mourinho won't guarantee Vinicius a starting spot once his ban ends

Mourinho sat down in front of the microphones with a packed agenda and didn't dodge a single topic. He talked about Vinicius, about Valverde, about the fixture list that has him somewhat annoyed, about the Ballon d'Or and even about Mbappe's controversy involving China. All in the same press conference, held ahead of the matchup against Racing de Santander and following that win over Barcelona in which the Brazilian wasn't even available.

On Vinicius, the Portuguese coach was clear but didn't close any doors or offer any guarantees. "I love him a lot and I need him," he said of the forward, though he quickly clarified that this "doesn't mean he's going to be a starter" once his suspension is served.

I don't think about Vinicius's individual situation. I don't have a fixed starting eleven. Today's starting eleven could be different in a couple of weeks. Soccer today isn't what it was 20 years ago, it's more intense, faster. With much greater physical demandsJose Mourinho

The coach explained that, for now, Vinicius's situation is simple to manage: he can't play in LaLiga but he is available for the Champions League. "I want this ban to end quickly, because I love him and I need him. And by saying this I'm not saying he'll be a starter, but I'm also not saying he'll be a problem," he summed up.

Along those same lines, Mourinho revealed that Federico Valverde won't start against Racing either. Dumfries or Trent will take his place, he explained, and he made clear he doesn't expect complaints about the rotations: "The difficulty of the season, with so many games and these gifts, accumulation of cards, fatigue, the odd injury... in the end, everyone is going to play."

A fixture list he doesn't like one bit

The Setubal native also took the chance to complain about the schedule Real Madrid has been dealt, with several away games in a row and a clash against Valencia just three days after playing in Athens in the Champions League. "It's an almost unique situation to play four straight games away from home," he lamented, and went further when discussing kickoff times: "We should have played yesterday and we're playing today; we should have played Valencia on Sunday and we're playing on Saturday. It's a huge gift they're giving us, whether it's from LaLiga or the TV networks, I don't know. But it's a gift we have to deal with."

The Ballon d'Or also came up in conversation. Mourinho praised Harry Kane, with whom he worked, and said he was happy for him despite the frustration of not seeing "his player" win it. On Mbappe he was blunt: "Kylian is unique." And he didn't hide his surprise at Jude Bellingham's final position in the voting: "Eleventh. No comments. Let's stop there."

To close things out, he tried to lower the temperature on the controversy between Mbappe and China. "My club is Real Madrid and my player at home is Kylian Mbappe," he said, pointing out that both the club and the forward reacted quickly to the situation. "These are the dangers of today's world, where often the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut," Mourinho reflected, putting the matter to rest.