Jose Mourinho talks Guler, Diomande, Vinicius, Cucurella after Real Madrid 4-1 Rayo Vallecano

Jose Mourinho talks Guler, Diomande, Vinicius, Cucurella after Real Madrid 4-1 Rayo Vallecano Real Madrid suffered an unexpected defeat in their fourth La Liga game of the 2026-27 season to Real Betis, but they have been quick to put things right with two consecutive wins following that loss. First, they defeated a difficult Inter Milan side in their opening UEFA Champions League game, and then, last night, also beat Rayo Vallecano as they returned to La Liga. The Merengues emerged victorious with a 4-1 scoreline in this last game , with Alvaro Carreras and Jude Bellingham joining Kylian Mbappe on the scoresheet, with the Frenchman scoring two goals. Los Blancos had already gone three goals up in the first half, but the second half saw them lose control to some extent, and face some dangerous attacks from the visitors. As MARCA has reported, Jose Mourinho talked to the press after this game, and gave an analysis of his team’s performance. The Portuguese coach started by talking about why Arda Guler was left out of the starting eleven: “Arda has a big influence when he is on the pitch. I’m going to say with 100% certainty that if Diomande had not started today, the first question would have been, ‘Why didn’t Diomande play?’ On the bench, you only see quality. The rotations will happen from match to match. Arda has a very positive influence on the team’s play. When he came on, he made a difference in terms of the stability of the game.” While recognizing the team’s drop in form after half-time, the Real Madrid coach was not surprised by this decline: “I would define the match as a 45-minute game. After 45 minutes, it was over. I knew the team did not have the physical and mental strength to play the second half the way it had played the first. The image that illustrates everything is how Bellingham played the final 10 minutes. Practically everyone made mistakes in the build-up, there was difficulty pressing, the shots on target… I already knew it. I expected it to be this way.” Mourinho was clear that his team is only going to improve going forward: “I’m happy because we have been together for three months, although we can only count from when everyone has been here. What we are doing has many positive aspects. We are going step by step, always trying to improve.” Despite his underwhelming performance in this match, the Portuguese coach talked highly of Yan Diomande’s potential: “I’m a little too old to feel pressure. You have different squads; sometimes you have to pray that nobody gets injured, while at other times you have many solutions. He will progressively improve. He has spent little time at the highest level and has a lot to learn from a tactical point of view. But he has incredible potential. One-on-one, passing, shooting… He gives us many options. He can play where Vini plays, on the right, Arda can play there, or where Bellingham plays. At the moment, I want to help him develop.” The Real Madrid tactician also spoke highly of Vinicius Junior: “Physically, he is better than ever. He is missing a millimeter to reach his maximum speed. His ability to repeat efforts is enormous. It is a process that he is assimilating. Mentally, he is very strong; he knows Madrid better than anyone. He plays with a great deal of responsibility, which is to play for Madrid and the Brazilian national team. He is calm. The goals will come.” Mourinho explained why he brought in Marc Cucurella for Vinicius late in the game: “Easy. I want to win, and I want to win by scoring as many goals as possible. When it’s 3-1 with five minutes to play, you have a very powerful full-back at Rayo who is capable of creating danger… At that point, it seemed better to me to close the door. For me, the time for tricks and scoring goals was over. Then we scored the fourth, which was even better.” Although not perfect, this was still a much-needed win for Real Madrid. However, tougher tests are coming for the Merengues, as they will be facing Elche and Atletico Madrid before the start of the September international break, and hopefully, Jose Mourinho will be able to keep getting good results while also improving the team with every match.