Mourinho: Vinicius? The team comes first, we'll manage him when he's back

Mourinho: Vinicius? The team comes first, we'll manage him when he's back José Mourinho spoke at the press conference ahead of Valencia-Real Madrid. Here is what the Portuguese coach had to say... The short recovery time "I think we're fine. We arrived here at 3... but we stayed together; no player went home, so we could try to get a couple more hours of sleep. The feedback from the players is positive, but we're not going to make a drama out of it, and tomorrow we'll be ready." Cristiano Ronaldo's retirement “Rather than comment on it, we should respect it, and I respect his decision. His career isn't over; anyone who knows him knows he still has career goals, and the only thing I would like is for his retirement as a player to be different from yesterday's farewell. Whether I see him as a coach, I don't know what to say. I don't know what might be going through his mind, but it's too early even to comment. He's still a footballer.” Fede Valverde's role “I can't compare him with last season because I didn't know him. Since we started working together, I've seen a professional, humble young man who is a friend to his teammates. Without being one of those voices you hear every day, he's a good example to everyone, and obviously I think being captain has given him a sense of responsibility.” Saying goodbye to Mestalla "I'm not really one for missing things. I've had good moments at Mestalla. More than Mestalla, I look at Valencia as a club. Thankfully, you've given me the chance to talk about the most important thing, which is tomorrow's match, one I consider among the toughest of the entire league season. A coach who is very difficult to face, a man with a wealth of experience who knows exactly what philosophy he wants for his teams. It will be an extremely tough match for us. Regardless of what we've done so far, we have to be at our best to win." The plan for resting players “I'm not thinking about that. I'm only thinking about tomorrow. I changed some players for the AEK match. It's easy to understand that even though Militao and Rudiger played well, Konaté and Dean will play tomorrow. We'll share the minutes among the players we can. But now, thanks to the decision to have us play on Saturday, the players joining their national teams have Sunday off so they can be fresh on Monday with their national teams. Thank you very much for that decision.” What result does he want in Atleti-Barça? “An important match? Only for them. I'd like them both to lose, but that's not possible. It's a very easy match because someone will drop points. We know that one of them, or both, will drop points. Points will be dropped, and that's the best news. In all honesty, I don't care.” Should the round of fixtures have been postponed because of what happened to Jesús de Miguel? “From what I've been told, there are some lovely tributes planned across all competitions, and I think that's meaningful. If it were possible to speak to Jesús and ask him, that would be the ideal situation. Since that's not possible, only his family, his friends and his teammates can say what he would have wanted: whether he would have wanted no football to be played or to be remembered across every division and stadium in Spanish football. I don't think any of us is in a position to say one way or the other.” Will he play Vinicius knowing he isn't at 100%? “For me, the most important thing is the team. I have never deliberately wanted to harm the team to benefit a player. Vinicius has played in the last two Champions League matches, yes. But when he's back to normal and available, I'll manage things as I see fit. As a coach, I don't just think game by game; I also think about the run of fixtures we have. The AEK match was a game for Vinicius. A coach must do everything to get his players performing at their highest level and try different strategies, both in terms of playing and on a personal level... A bad player will always be a bad player. But a good player will have his bad moments. If Vinicius were a bad player, people would say he played well in Athens. He'll keep working, and when it comes to deciding who plays, the team comes before the player.” Is he worried the international break will disrupt the good run of results? “I'm worried about tomorrow's match. Worried in quotation marks. The difficulty of the match is my concern; international football is not my problem. It doesn't worry me at all when a player has the honour of playing for his country. My concern is tomorrow's match, against a fresh team that has had all week to prepare and a coach who isn't worried about how his team will play.” How is the work he wants to do progressing? “In some matches we've had to come from behind. And coming from behind means something positive, but also something negative. Coming from behind means having strength in depth, belief within the group, knowing what shirt you're wearing... but it also has its negative side, and we have to work on that. There's a lot to do.” This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.