Vinicius came off the pitch at the OPAP Arena in Athens with a win, a Jude Bellingham backheel, a Federico Valverde thunderbolt deep in stoppage time, and a lukewarm verdict from his manager.
“Vini had a very acceptable match, not an extraordinary one, but the team didn’t have an extraordinary match,” Mourinho said at his post-match press conference.
Then came the number. Asked how he was handling Vinicius since taking over at the Bernabéu, the Portuguese put a specific percentage on it.
“I would say, trying to imagine a percentage, so far, 80 per cent with the right (soft hand) and 20 per cent with the left (firm hand).”
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Vinicius was back in the side after serving a two-match La Liga suspension, and the numbers from the Athens win point to a player still searching for his best form: three shots and none on target, 11 possessions lost and just two of seven ground duels won before he was replaced in the 81st minute. He has one goal and three assists in 12 appearances this season.
Vinicius stayed on the left, Diomande took the right
One of the night’s talking points was Yan Diomande operating on the right flank rather than his natural left. Mourinho pushed back firmly on any suggestion that Vinicius had demanded the left for himself and insisted the Brazilian had not provoked the setup. He described Diomande as a two-footed signing brought in to cover either wing, and said the Ivorian had no issue with the switch.
Diomande was withdrawn in the 67th minute for Valverde. Fifteen minutes later it was Vinicius’s turn, replaced as Mourinho reached for fresh legs on the flanks.
One eye on Valencia
Madrid had twice fallen behind. Aboubakary Koita, teed up by former Bernabéu striker Luka Jović, opened the scoring in the 12th minute before Bellingham levelled with a backheel in the 32nd. Stavros Pilios put AEK back in front in the 75th minute, Kylian Mbappé replied three minutes later from a Denzel Dumfries cross, and Valverde struck his long-range winner in the 92nd.
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Mourinho acknowledged that Saturday’s La Liga trip to Valencia had shaped his substitutions in Athens, with the league fixture factored into when and whom he took off.
Real Madrid moved level with holders Paris Saint-Germain on four wins from four league-phase games with the win in Greece. The trip to the Mestalla is on Saturday, 7 November.
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