Mourinho defends Vinicius and Mbappé after criticism and praises Courtois for saving Real Madrid

José Mourinho kept asking his attackers midway through the second half to retreat after one of the many counterattacks that Madrid failed to complete and which led to another charge from Inter. In one of those, still at 2-0, he called Diomande and Tchouameni out. However, those replaced were not any of the offensive triplets, but Trent Alexander-Arnold - lost in the midfield - and Brahim.

When it was his turn to give explanations to the media, the coach once again defended his team, Vinicius and Mbappé, whistled for being substituted in the final stretch. Above all, the first one. “He deserves all my respect,” the Portuguese began in his long defense of the Brazilian. "He is not at his best. We all see it. He, too. He is working harder than ever to decide games. The few times he has not been able to compact has been due to fatigue. I owe him a lot of respect for the Vinicius that I have encountered. If he works for the team, he will always have my support," Mou developed about a player who has accumulated too many months with whistles from the stands.

Against Inter, when he was heading towards the sideline, he stopped to applaud the stands and the new rule that penalizes excess time leaving the field left Madrid with 10 for a couple of minutes. Shortly afterwards, the other relieved was Mbappé, who also heard the criticism of the cobblestones. “I gave him a kiss and that means respect for the work done,” Mourinho clarified.

The Portuguese emphasized the defense of his offensive towers, but he did regret the lack of control in the second half. "The match could have ended 6-1 or 6-6. Not with Inter winning because we created more. It was a crazy match, a crazy thing that I don't like. I like to score five, six, seven goals while being in control without needing a great goalkeeper. If they don't give the MVP to Courtois today, I don't know when they will give it to him," Mou said.

“Courtois saved us,” admitted Valverde, who was the one who won the award for best player of the duel. "In the second half we lacked patience to have the ball. We have to be self-critical. The second half was bad. We played their game," admitted the Uruguayan. The Belgian goalkeeper also complained about the lack of control. “The game was too crazy in the second half.”

Without the suspended Güler, Bernardo Silva and Camavinga, and with Tchouameni and Thiago Pitarch recruited at the last moment after recovering from their physical problems, Mourinho's choice to accompany the only pure midfielder he had left (Valverde) was Trent Alexander-Arnold, a place he had already occupied episodically in his career, but where the seams were seen this Tuesday. Mou appreciated his effort, although he pointed out that the physical specificity of playing in the middle for a full-back conditioned him excessively. In the end, Tchouameni returned to the scene, for whom there were also good words from the boss. "The last time he touched the ball was in the World Cup. What you saw yesterday [to the journalists, for Monday's training] was to deceive," Mourinho concluded after a night that left the amphitheater with chants of "Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta defends itself" arising from the cheering stands, directed by the club.