Real Madrid are facing a major challenge in the shape of the dilemma posed by the duo Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. It is the biggest problem José Mourinho has faced in his second spell.
According to The Athletic, Real Madrid sat on top of the football world a little over two years ago. They had just been crowned champions of the UEFA Champions League for the fifteenth time, extending their record, and had finally landed Kylian Mbappé on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain after years of failed attempts.
Adding one of the best players in the world to the best team in Europe seemed to guarantee the club's continued success.
Vinícius Júnior led the race for the Ballon d'Or that year, before the award went to Manchester City's Rodri in a decision that greatly angered Real Madrid. Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, produced an exceptional first season with 23 goals after becoming the most expensive signing in the Royal club's history.
The club, its fans and the media got carried away with dreams and expectations about the potential of Florentino Pérez's latest project, built on gathering global stars.
Reality turned out to be completely different. Real Madrid did not win any major title over the past two seasons, four coaches took charge of the team one after another, and the club even called early and surprise presidential elections last June.
Real Madrid did not hesitate to blame refereeing decisions during this period, yet criticism emerged behind the scenes over the team's lack of spirit, the need for a creative midfielder after the departures of Toni Kroos in 2024 and Luka Modrić in 2025, and the absence of harmony between the stars.
Nowhere did this flaw show more clearly than in the failure of Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior to form a harmonious partnership on the pitch.
One source, a regular presence at the Valdebebas training centre over recent years, said: "It is a problem related to football and ego, but it is first and foremost a footballing problem."
A member of Real Madrid's coaching staff over recent years takes a similar view, believing that "the problem will not be solved until one of the players leaves, whether Vinícius or Mbappé." Like all the people whose opinions were sought in this report, they spoke on condition that their identities not be revealed in order to protect their relationships.
The reasons behind the big dilemma
With Real Madrid six points behind Barcelona in La Liga, and the first Clásico of the season approaching on 25 October, the newspaper explains why this ranks as the biggest challenge of Mourinho's second spell at the Santiago Bernabéu, and how he is dealing with it.
Mourinho took charge of a dressing room that descended into chaos last season, culminating in a confrontation between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid, before the three-week international break, sparked rumours in Spain about internal tensions re-emerging behind the scenes.
Several sources at Valdebebas, close to Mourinho and the players, denied the accuracy of those reports.
They acknowledged there was room to improve the situation, warning that a decline in results could sour the atmosphere, but they confirmed that morale and relations inside the dressing room were better than last season.
A source close to Mourinho said: "The team needs to defend better and increase its attacking effectiveness, and this is what Mourinho focused on during the break, by searching for internal and tactical solutions to address the team's shortcomings."
Getty ImagesVinícius's decline
Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior both failed to score during the defeat to Atlético Madrid at the Metropolitano.
Mbappé has eight goals and two assists from the eight matches Real Madrid have played so far. He drew a blank in the two games they lost, and he also missed a penalty in the other defeat, to Real Betis.
Vinícius Júnior tells a different story. One goal and three assists in eight matches, and that return is causing concern inside the club.
People close to Mourinho confirmed that he never seriously considered dropping the Brazilian forward from the starting line-up, despite reports in the Spanish media suggesting the opposite.
The decline in Vinícius Júnior's goalscoring sparked several theories across social media during the recent international break, some of which reached the Spanish press.
Some of this speculation went so far as to suggest that the player's recent cosmetic surgery on his chin may be affecting his level, despite no evidence to support the claim.
Neither Real Madrid nor Vinícius Júnior's representatives responded to The Athletic's enquiries about the matter.
At 26, Vinícius had been finishing chances well late last season, but he has dipped slightly since the current campaign began.
Mourinho's position
Off the pitch, both players have faced scrutiny and criticism. Recent images of Mbappé riding a bicycle during his recovery from a knee injury, while on holiday in Switzerland, sparked controversy across social media, especially as Mourinho had said in a previous interview that he prefers his players not to use bicycles in their free time.
The Portuguese coach was not concerned, deeming Mbappé's ride safe and calm.
Mourinho addressed the matter in Friday's press conference, branding the controversy stirred up around Mbappé during the international break "ridiculous" and holding the media responsible. He also confirmed that the France captain would start today's match against Villarreal. This is not the first time Mbappé has angered the fans with his travels during a recovery. Inside the dressing room and among the staff at Valdebebas, some actions of the 27-year-old drew a negative response, including his trip to Italy with his partner last May, after he suffered a hamstring injury.
On the pitch, both players are clearly struggling to produce their best when they play together.
Neither came close to his usual level during the derby. Their heat maps spread across social media afterwards, showing them repeatedly occupying the same areas on the left side of the pitch.
Real Madrid's pass map from that match, produced by The Athletic, confirms the same thing. Mourinho is working hard to push the two star forwards to exploit different spaces when launching counter-attacks.
The curse of the left flank
Both clearly prefer to attack through the left, as the players' touch maps during open play in La Liga since the 2023-2024 season show, bearing in mind that Mbappé joined the following season.
That tendency may explain the comments of one former member of the coaching staff, who believed correcting the situation requires the departure of one of the two stars.
Another member of a former Real Madrid coach's staff agrees, adding: "Either a structural change happens, or the two players will be unable to develop." He continued: "The team has a lot of talent capable of creating play, but it is impossible to maintain defensive balance when only eight players defend, given the poor defensive output of Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. It also becomes extremely difficult to organise the attack when your best players always rush to speed up the play and search for the same spaces."
A slight change has occurred on the players' defensive side, however. In recent years, Real Madrid relied on a 4-4-2 system, which left Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior more exposed to pressure and laid bare their weak contribution to defensive duties.
Mourinho's team currently defends with a compact 4-2-3-1 that demands much less defensive effort from the two star forwards. All they must do is protect the spaces and hold the team's shape. A source familiar with Mourinho's thinking said: "Mourinho's idea is to find a way to achieve tactical balance, so that the two players contribute to the defence without draining their energy more than necessary, to ensure they retain their sharpness and effectiveness in the final third of the pitch."
The coaches who preceded Mourinho tried different strategies without success. Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa all failed to extract the best from the two stars. Ancelotti stuck with an attacking line loaded with stars, including Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, while Alonso chose the French star as the leader of his project and fell into disputes with Vinícius Júnior and Bellingham.
Arbeloa, for his part, sought to regain the trust of Vinícius Júnior and Bellingham, but lost Mbappé in return. All the sources polled agree that the relationship between Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior is good off the pitch.
Getty ImagesThe relationship between Mbappé and Vinícius off the pitch
A source at Valdebebas summed it up: "They are on good terms, but they do not harmonise on the pitch."
A person close to one of the players, who has a very good relationship with Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior, explained: "It does not mean that they do not get along or hate each other," before adding: "They compare themselves to each other in everything, and if one of them does not defend, the other will not defend either."
The same source raised the possibility that Vinícius Júnior feels irritated by the way the club is helping Mbappé in his Ballon d'Or campaign.
He said: "They noticed that inside the dressing room and talked about it, and they believe the award will go to Mbappé. Real Madrid are making very big efforts to support him." Mourinho and his coaching staff believe Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior are two forwards capable of deciding matches, which explains why the Portuguese usually keeps them on the pitch for as long as possible.
One question remains: will Mourinho succeed where every recent Real Madrid coach has failed? The success of the club's current project may hinge on solving this dilemma.