Real Madrid won 1-2 at the RCDE Stadium in the first day of the League, with goals from Jude Bellingham and Carlos Espí, and José Mourinho took advantage of the post-match press conference to make a plea in defense of Vinicius Junior, once again the target of clashes with Espanyol players during the match. The coach, who had been critical of the Brazilian in the past when he was an opponent, admitted the change of perspective and denounced what he considers a pattern that repeats week after week: “Vinicius is not a saint, but what they do to him is too much.” He added: “We are in a social era of anti-bullying. With Vinicius, we are still in bullying, whether from the opponent or from the public.”
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The coach went further and pointed, somewhat hastily, to what he perceives as a repeated dynamic of bookings and provocations that work against the Brazilian match after match, always leaving him at a disadvantage against the current opponent. A situation that, he acknowledged, demands emotional control from Vinicius, which the coaching staff explicitly works on with him, to the point of asking him to moderate how he celebrates goals to avoid sanctions that take him off the field. For the coach, the responsibility does not fall solely on the player: “We have to educate him to the maximum, we have to prepare him to the maximum.”
Mourinho defended the merit of his team despite the difficulties of the second half: “We have done, mainly in the second half, great control, great pressure. We took a lot of risks and I think we deserved to win.” Still, he had words of recognition for the Espanyol team, which he described as a “very well organized” opponent that did not deserve “to go home with nothing.”
The coach attributed part of his team’s physical shortcomings to the lack of preseason for the players who played in the World Cup, citing Bellingham, the scorer of the first goal, as an example, about whom he admitted doubts as to whether he should start or not. He also highlighted the contribution of the bench: “It is also a victory with soul, a victory also from the bench. When you have quality like us, the bench can help you win a match.”
🤍 José Mourinho, a happy man.
— LALIGA (@LaLiga) August 22, 2026
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The other protagonist of the night was Carlos Espí, scorer of the decisive goal, whom Mourinho referred to in a close, locker-room tone, sharing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as he recounted, and whom he described as “a very funny guy” who lives “a dream” without losing humility: “He doesn’t work like someone who is in the moon. He works very hard for the team.”
Asked about the refereeing, Mourinho was satisfied despite his usual mistrust of the referees: “I think he did a great job. No VAR, no importance, nothing in the area that can decide a match, a victory.”
And regarding doubts about managing a large squad still in the process of settling, he was blunt about the rotations to come: “I can’t work a miracle of starting a match with 14, with 15. They are the ones who have to fight against the frustration of not starting a match, of not playing.” The coach also recalled the demands of the schedule ahead for his team: “In Madrid, they have to play four competitions, and we can’t do it with 10, 11, 12, or 15. We need this entire squad.”
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