Mourinho insists Real Madrid must come before Vinicius Junior

Jose Mourinho says Real Madrid’s interests will always take priority over Vinicius Junior as the Brazilian prepares to miss Saturday’s La Liga meeting with Valencia.

Real Madrid travel to Mestalla for the 12th round of the Spanish top flight, with Vinicius unavailable as he completes his suspension for being sent off against Villarreal.

The forward has already missed league games against Sevilla, Barcelona and Racing, although he featured for Real Madrid in the Champions League against Roma, Leipzig and AEK Athens.

Asked whether Real Madrid perform worse when Vinicius plays, Mourinho said: “For me, the most important thing is the team. I would never deliberately harm the team to benefit one player. Perhaps this issue was considered in the Champions League, but when Vinicius is available, I will do my job as a coach.”

Mourinho added that he wanted the squad to focus on one match at a time, but said his own responsibility was to consider the run of fixtures ahead.

“AEK Athens was an opportunity for Vinicius and for Arda Guler to get some rest,” he said. “In short, the coach must do whatever is best for the team, both in managing individuals and in the way the team plays, while believing in the player’s real ability.”

He also defended Vinicius’ capacity to recover his form.

“A poor player will remain poor whatever you try, but an excellent player, even during his worst moments, leaves you a way back to his level,” Mourinho said.

“Had Vinicius’ performance in Athens come from an ordinary player, we would have called it an ordinary performance. But because he is Vinicius, and people always expect a high level from him – and he was the player who eliminated me from the Champions League last year – he will continue working.

“One of the most important things is the friendship he has with his team-mates. We are moving forward with complete belief, but when the decisive moment comes, the team must always come before every individual player.”

Mourinho was also asked about Sunday’s eagerly anticipated La Liga meeting between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.

“I hope both teams lose, but it is an easy match because one of them will drop points,” he said. “Honestly, the result does not matter to me.”

On the decision not to postpone the round of fixtures, Mourinho referred to tributes planned for Jesus Miguel.

“There have been some beautiful tributes to Jesus Miguel, and I think that is significant,” he said. “Ideally, we would be able to speak to him and ask what he wanted. Only his family, friends and team-mates can answer whether he would prefer there to be no football matches or whether he would want to be remembered through widespread tributes. That is a matter for him and his family. The tribute is for Jesus.”

Mourinho said he was not considering rest when selecting his team, although he made changes for the AEK Athens match.

“It is easy to understand why Konate and Dean will play tomorrow, despite the good performances from Militao and Rudiger,” he said. “Because the match is being played on Saturday, the players who joined their national teams are happy to have a day with their families.”

Real Madrid are third in La Liga with 27 points, behind Atletico Madrid on 28 and leaders Barcelona on 30.