Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid manager, defended his star Vinicius Junior after the player's show of anger at the decision to substitute him during the Champions League match against Italian side Roma.
Real Madrid snatched a precious 4-3 win in Italy on Wednesday evening, having trailed by two goals inside the final ten minutes.
Vinicius struggled. His error led to Roma's second goal, prompting Mourinho to haul him off in the 59th minute for fellow Brazilian Endrick, whose introduction proved to be the turning point of the match.
The Brazilian made no secret of his fury, marching over to Mourinho to ask why he had been taken off. Plenty of eyes were on the exchange.
Asked about Vinicius's performance in the post-match press conference, the Portuguese stressed that the tactical battle imposed by Roma made his task difficult and that the responsibility does not fall on the player alone.
Mourinho said, according to "AS": "In the first half, the mistake was mine, or Gasperini's. He put Soule in that position, and Wesley was constantly getting the better of us in two-against-one situations. It was difficult for Vini."
He added: "In the second half, I gave him the freedom to play on the other side. Wesley had used up his energy against Diomande. Vini lost a ball he should not have lost (the ball for Roma's second goal), but it's over. I make mistakes too."
There was regret, too, that the four-match suspension in the Spanish league has landed just as the player's form picked up. "It's a shame it is happening now, after he had started to recover his level and feel happy again," Mourinho said.
On Vinicius's anger at being substituted, the manager said: "It's normal for him not to be happy. If he did what many others do, such as throwing a water bottle, I wouldn't like that. Frustration is normal, but he was very happy with the win after the match."
The circumstances before the game made that control harder still, and Mourinho recognised as much. "The player tries to control his emotions. I had to do that too in order to play here, at my team's stadium, among people I love. The player must have that ability as well, and he handled it very well on the whole."
Again the Portuguese pointed the finger at Gasperini for Vinicius's first-half troubles: "The first half goes to Gasperini's credit, and that is a positive thing. It is not Vinicius's fault, it is Gasperini's fault."
Are Real Madrid finding relief in the Champions League after their league stumbles?
Asked about the importance of the win amid the pressure on his team, Mourinho refused to link the Spanish league and the Champions League. Six points from the first two rounds gives Real Madrid an important boost, he said, but the job is far from done.
He said: "The Spanish league is the Spanish league, and the Champions League is the Champions League. We have taken six points from two matches. The competition is not over yet, but that is very important for us. We still have six matches ahead of us, and we have already faced opponents of the highest level."
Mourinho praises Espi and opens the door to his chance with Mbappe absent
Forward Carlos Espi got a word of praise too, with Mourinho discussing his development and the openings that could come his way, particularly given how difficult it is to dislodge Kylian Mbappe.
He said: "He keeps developing. I have to say that when the possibility of Gonzalo leaving came up, a player I liked a lot and who was a good deal for Real Madrid, three names were put to me, and Espi was one of them, and they did a very good job."
He added: "For a forward, playing in the same team as Kylian is not easy. It is not easy to rotate a player like him, given his quality."