Mourinho: No Real Madrid player is untouchable as Diomande pushes to displace Vinicius

Mourinho sends warning to Madrid squad

Jose Mourinho has delivered a blunt message to his Real Madrid squad, declaring that no player — not even the club's established stars — is guaranteed a starting spot as the battle for places at the Santiago Bernabeu intensifies.

The Portuguese coach's comments arrive with Vinicius Junior enduring a difficult start to the campaign and teenager Yan Diomande forcing his way into contention in the forward line.

Vinicius struggles, Diomande surges

Vinicius has struggled to make his mark this season, scoring just once and providing three assists in 10 appearances for Los Blancos. The 26-year-old is also serving a four-match LaLiga ban after pulling the hair of Villarreal's Nathan Saliba, a suspension that rules him out of the first Clasico of the season against Barcelona on October 25.

Diomande, meanwhile, has impressed since returning after the international break, directly contributing to four goals in three games — two goals and two assists.

"The only thing untouchable is the badge. I don't like this concept of an untouchable player," said Mourinho. "What makes a player untouchable is their performance on the field. Vinicius is going to play on the left wing [against Leipzig]. Yan doesn't know if he's going to play or not."

Earlier warning over Vinicius' future

Mourinho's latest remarks follow comments he made on 17 October, when he said that if he were Vinicius Junior he would have forced an exit from the club this summer, as the Brazilian winger dealt with the four-match suspension that keeps him out of the Clasico.

Leipzig test in the Champions League

Vinicius is set to start when Madrid host RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday. The two sides meet for a fifth time in the competition, with the German side winning only one of the previous four meetings (D1 L2) — a 3-2 home victory in October 2022.

Los Blancos lost both of their games against German opponents in last season's Champions League, against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, and they last lost three consecutive European games against German opposition between May 2001 and April 2002.

Mourinho outlined Madrid's immediate aims in the tournament.

"It's very early. Our goal now is to qualify, and then the next objective will be to avoid the play-offs," added the Portuguese. "I have a feeling that we're going to need a lot of points to do that. First, we need to reach the 11 or 12 points that qualify us, and then we need to get the points that allow us to finish in the top eight."