Mourinho faces ‘tremendous problem’ – and it’s not Vini Jr or Mbappe

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Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe's relationship at Real Madrid continues to make headlines, but manager Jose Mourinho is facing a much more fundamental issue.

Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid has left the Bernabeu side once again teetering on the brink of a crisis.

In the aftermath of the defeat, Los Blancos pointed to the referee as the reason they suffered defeat to their rivals, yet the stark reality is that they are six points behind a rampant Barcelona and already facing a mountain to climb to eat up that deficit.

Jose Mourinho is struggling to build a cohesive team, which was underlined by a graphic in L’Equipe that showed the average positions of Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe as being virtually identical.

Meanwhile, record signing Yan Diomande started the match on the bench and is looking like a bit-part player in the coach’s plans for the moment.

And according to those close to the situation, Mourinho faces a “tremendous problem” due to the personnel that he has to work with.

“This Real Madrid doesn't have players to play, apart from Arda Guler,” journalist Paco Gonzalez pointed out on COPE (via Mundo Deportivo).

“Who can put together a cohesive attacking play for Real Madrid today? Tchouameni, Bellingham... The rest are individual efforts.

“Madrid are at a 10 physically when you see them, they'll take on anyone in a brawl, but to play a cohesive game there's no one but Guler.

“Konate and Dumfries don't have a decent way of playing the ball out from the back.

“It's a tremendous problem with both their style of play and their players.”

Mourinho has a bigger problem than Vini Jr and Mbappe

Mourinho started to take action against Atletico Madrid when he hauled Vinicius Junior off after 53 minutes.

Since signing a bumper new contract in the summer, the Brazil international has continued his mediocre output of recent years by scoring just one goal. By contrast, Mbappe has eight in eight games while even Carlos Espi has netted two in only 30 minutes on the park.

Los Blancos, though, continue to be held in thrall by their Galacticos, which has resulted in them looking unbalanced in attack.

But even if the Mbappe and Vini Jr problem was solved, however, the long-standing issue of a midfield metronome was largely ignored this summer once Rodri had rejected a move to Madrid and instead went to Barcelona.

“No, I don’t miss Rodri. We have solutions,” Mourinho argued in mid-August.

From the evidence of the season to date, it does not appear that he has found one, while there is not an obvious option in his squad who might take such a mantle. Bellingham has too much energy for the role, leaving Guler as the one player who might be repurposed to play a more disciplined job deeper in the midfield, also potentially opening up the right flank for Diomande.

What’s most surprising, though, is that this is no new problem. Since Toni Kroos retired in 2024, Madrid have repeatedly overlooked the need to recruit in this area.

It’s an issue that continues to haunt Madrid and will be even harder for Mourinho to solve than the imbalance between Vinicius and Mbappe.