Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho on Tuesday warned Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior and the team’s other stars that no one is “untouchable.”
Vinicius has struggled for form this season and is serving a four-match La Liga ban for hair-pulling, but he is available as Madrid host RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Ivorian winger Yan Diomande, the club’s record 140 million euro ($157m) signing, has impressed in recent weeks and scored against Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday in Vinicius’s absence.
“Only the club badge is untouchable,” Mourinho told reporters when asked whether Vinicius’s place was under threat given Diomande’s form.
“I don’t like the concept of untouchable players. What makes a player untouchable is not his status, the armband, his years at the club, how much was paid for him, what makes him untouchable is his performance on the pitch.”
Mourinho said Vinicius would play on the left wing against Leipzig, and that he had not yet told Diomande whether he would start as well.
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Madrid is aiming for a third Champions League win from three league-phase matches. In La Liga, however, they are third, six points behind leaders Barcelona, whom they visit on Sunday.
Mourinho said the team’s level is still a long way from where he hopes to take it. “A long way off… we’ve been here three or four months, it’s impossible to be where we want to be,” the veteran Portuguese coach said.
“We always have to improve, be it individually or collectively… I understand the demands (at this club) are the maximum.
I’ve been here three years (2010-2013), and so I know perfectly well how things are. I can’t lose my direction… (even though) I know there is a lot of work to do.”
French defender Ibrahima Konate said the former Chelsea and Manchester United coach commands respect.
“He’s a great manager, I think he has this aura that not many managers have, because he doesn’t need to speak and everyone will listen and respect him,” Konate told reporters.
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