Real Madrid walked out of Camp Nou on 25 October with a 2-1 win and the sense that the forward they had just extended until 2032 has become a spectator at his own club.

Vinicius Junior sat out the Clásico, serving the second match of a four-game La Liga ban. Yan Diomande started in his left-wing role. Kylian Mbappé scored twice to settle the game, on 41 and 87 minutes, either side of a Raphinha equaliser.

In the weeks around that result, the picture has not really changed: this is a team that functions when Vinicius is not in it.

The contract that aged in weeks

Vinicius had been sent off at home to Villarreal earlier in October after pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair in an off-the-ball incident. The Appeals Committee of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) upheld the four-match suspension on 16 October: two games for the hair-pull and two more for aggressively addressing the referee after the red card. He misses the games against Sevilla, Barcelona, Racing Santander and Valencia, and is only eligible to return after the trip to Mestalla on 7 November.

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Two months earlier, Real Madrid had announced an extension through 30 June 2032.

“Vinicius has become one of the most important players during one of the most successful periods in our history,” the club statement said at the time.

The run of form around the ban has not matched the paperwork. Phil Kitromilides, TNT Sports’ Spanish football expert, pointed to a Vinicius who did not attempt a single dribble across his last two appearances before the suspension, at Roma on 14 October and against RB Leipzig on 21 October.

“His number for successful dribbles this season is way down, and in the last two games he didn’t even attempt any,” Kitromilides told TNT Sports. “That shows a player whose confidence is absolutely shot.”

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A €140m 19-year-old in his shirt

Mourinho’s answer on the left has been Diomande. The Ivorian 19-year-old cost Real Madrid a club-record 140 million euros including bonuses when he arrived from RB Leipzig in August, on a deal through 2033.

Even before the ban, Mourinho had begun leaning on him. Diomande scored the only goal against Villarreal in the match that produced Vinicius’s red card, and he had already come on for the Brazilian at Roma.

He started the Clásico, and will keep that shirt for the three league games that remain in the suspension.

Mourinho’s new on-pitch leader

The other winner of the reshuffle is Jude Bellingham. Pushed higher up the pitch by Mourinho and released from the deeper defensive role he had been asked to play last season, the England midfielder has become the player the Real Madrid dressing room looks to.

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“Bellingham is not only a top player, but also a leader. He’s very demanding of himself, and demanding of his team-mates,” Mourinho said after a 4-0 win over Málaga on 30 August.

“He is in the Ballon d’Or race. What he does as a midfielder is absolutely incredible.”

Fede Valverde has been shifted to right-back, Bernardo Silva was trusted at Camp Nou, and Diomande is on the left: a Mourinho team that no longer waits for Vinicius to produce.

Vinicius is eligible to return after the Valencia game on 7 November, with Real Madrid’s next La Liga fixture after that an away trip to Celta Vigo.

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