Mourinho Defends Vinicius After Once Criticising Him

Jose Mourinho has cast himself as the loudest defender of Vinicius Junior, accusing rival players and supporters of bullying the Brazil forward, in an intervention made all the more striking because the same manager was among his sharpest critics only months ago.

Mourinho made the accusation after Real Madrid opened their La Liga campaign with a 2-1 win away to Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà de Llobregat on Saturday, his first competitive match since returning to the club. Vinicius was fouled by Alex Calatrava inside the opening minutes, with Madrid’s appeals for a red card waved away. The same player later cancelled out Jude Bellingham’s opener before a stoppage-time strike from substitute Carlo Espí settled the contest. Vinicius was booked for a running dispute with Calatrava.

“Vini isn’t a saint, but what people do to him is too much,” Mourinho told his post-match news conference, saying the targeting began in the first minute and followed a pattern of one opponent after another provoking the winger. “He needs great emotional control. I told him that even if he scores, he must be careful how he celebrates, so he stays on the pitch,” he added, noting that he had raised the matter with the player at half-time. “We are in a social era of anti-bullying, but with Vini we are still in the bullying era, whether from opponents or from the public. We must educate and prepare him as best we can.”

The remarks carry an irony that has not gone unnoticed. In February 2026, when Mourinho managed Benfica, Vinicius accused Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni of abuse during a Champions League tie that Real Madrid won 1-0 in Lisbon. UEFA later suspended Prestianni for six matches for discriminatory conduct that it deemed homophobic. Mourinho was widely criticised at the time for defending his own player and suggesting Vinicius had invited the reaction. His move from critic to protector reflects a familiar instinct to close ranks around his squad.

The record of abuse behind the debate is extensive. According to figures cited by Al Jazeera, at least 18 legal complaints have been filed over racist abuse targeting Vinicius since 2022. Spanish courts have since delivered a series of firsts. In June 2024, three Valencia supporters were sentenced to eight months in prison and banned from stadiums for two years over monkey chants aimed at the player at the Mestalla in May 2023, the first criminal conviction for racist abuse inside a Spanish stadium. In May 2025, five Valladolid fans were convicted over insults during a 2022 fixture, while a separate case in Mallorca produced another guilty verdict.

Vinicius responded to the 2024 ruling by declaring: “I am not a victim of racism. I am the tormentor of racists. This first criminal conviction in Spanish history is not for me. It is for all black people.”

Now 26, the forward joined Real Madrid from Flamengo in 2018 and has grown into one of the game’s defining attackers. He was named the Champions League player of the season in 2023-24, finished runner-up for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, and led Brazil’s attack at the 2026 World Cup. That prominence has made him both a symbol of football’s fight against racism and a lightning rod on the pitch.

Not everyone accepts Mourinho’s framing. Espanyol coach Manolo González pushed back after the match, questioning whether opponents were still permitted to challenge the forward at all. Critics argue that Vinicius’s confrontational style and his exchanges with opponents invite some of the treatment he receives, a view Mourinho himself once appeared to hold.

For Real Madrid, the episode sets an early tone for Mourinho’s second spell, which began in July 2026 on a three-year contract, thirteen years after he left the Santiago Bernabeu in 2013. It also revives an unresolved question in Spanish football, where landmark convictions have signalled intent without ending the abuse. Vinicius remains at the centre of that struggle, and the reaction he draws, on and off the pitch, shows little sign of fading.