Yan Diomande set up Real Madrid’s second goal at the Martínez Valero on Tuesday. Vinicius Jr, on the opposite flank, misfired through the evening and was replaced before the game turned. That contrast is now the argument Tomás Roncero is putting to José Mourinho on air.
Speaking on Cadena SER’s Carrusel Deportivo, Roncero was blunt about what he saw: the Brazilian, he said, had “an unfortunate night” and “nothing came off for him”. His conclusion pointed to the bench.
“Carlos Espí has to be a starter for Madrid because he has already saved the team twice,” Roncero told listeners. “If Vinicius has to be a substitute, so be it.”
He was just as insistent on the summer signing on the opposite wing.
“It is good news that Madrid are exploiting the right flank with Yan. That resource was being wasted,” Roncero said.
“A €125 million player is not one we can get used to seeing on the bench,” he added.
Mourinho’s public demand for goals
The pressure on Vinicius did not begin on Tuesday. In his pre-match press conference before the Elche trip, Mourinho publicly asked for more end product from the 26-year-old forward.
“His best performance is scoring goals. Assisting is important, working for the team is very important, the daily work is important and he does it very well,” Mourinho said.
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“But there’s another Vinicius. A Vinicius who arrived at Benfica last year and who gets one chance, scores a goal, and goes home. He’s lacking this top-level performance.”
Vinicius has scored once and assisted three times so far this season, and was jeered by sections of the Bernabéu when Mourinho substituted him during the Champions League win over Inter Milan a week earlier.
Diomande’s assist and Espí’s late winner
Diomande, a 19-year-old Ivorian winger, joined from RB Leipzig this summer on a seven-year deal running to June 2033. The reported fixed fee of €125m, with bonuses that could take the package to €135m, would make him the most expensive signing in Real Madrid’s history by guaranteed transfer fee.
Lined up on the right at Elche, he delivered the low cross that Kylian Mbappé finished on 33 minutes to put Madrid two up. Real still needed Carlos Espí’s stoppage-time winner for the 3-2 result after Elche pulled level through Abiel Osorio and Fer Niño in the second half.
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Roncero’s argument is that Diomande is versatile enough to shift over to the left, letting Espí lead the line and pushing Vinicius out of the eleven.
Real Madrid travel to face Atlético Madrid in the next La Liga round. Roncero framed his intervention as a lineup call for that fixture; Mourinho, who backed the Brazilian after the Inter game by saying “we only throw stones at the trees that have fruit,” has not signalled any intention to bench him.
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