ONE TOUCH SUMMARY
- Kylian Mbappe scored Real Madrid's opener against Inter Milan and moved joint-fifth among all-time Champions League scorers.
- Jose Mourinho defended Mbappe and Vinicius Jr after both were booed by Real Madrid's own fans at the Bernabeu.
- Mourinho compared the pair to fruit trees, saying stones are only thrown at trees that bear fruit.
ONE TOUCH INSIGHT
Mourinho's fruit-tree proverb is a good line and a bad answer. Nobody at the Bernabeu is jeering Kylian Mbappe's output; he scored 42 in 44 last season, he opened the scoring against Inter, and he now sits joint-fifth on the all-time Champions League scorers list. They're jeering two years without a trophy and two stars they've quietly decided they don't much like.
Balague laid it out plainly: Mbappe reads cold, and the three times he said no to Real Madrid before he arrived haven't been forgotten. Vinicius ran without the ball and still got booed; a new contract bought him no credit. That is the part Mourinho's line about "access to so many stats" cannot reach. Numbers answer a question this crowd isn't asking.
Read the defence as a manager shielding his front two from the one audience he can't argue with. The Bernabeu's next league night is the measure: whether the proverb bought those two any patience when the opposition sits deep and the unglamorous running decides whether the jeers come back.
WHY IT MATTERS
The jeers aimed at Real Madrid's biggest names expose a strained relationship between the Bernabeu and the club's stars, and Mourinho's public defence shows how heavily the team's identity now rests on Mbappe and Vinicius.
Kylian Mbappe
ST / LW
France
Strengths
- ✓Elite goalscoring output: 42 goals in 44 club games last season
- ✓Joint-fifth on the all-time Champions League scorers list
- ✓Ballon d'Or nominee after that goalscoring season
- ✓High work rate in defence, praised by Mourinho for his attitude against Inter
- ⚠His defensive contribution has been questioned, with supporters at the Bernabeu booing him this week
- ⚠Real Madrid won no trophy last season despite his goals, which has fuelled fan frustration
TACTICAL FIT
Mbappe's goals — 42 in 44 games last season and the opener against Inter — remain Madrid's most reliable output, yet criticism of his defensive work persists. Mourinho insists he defended like an animal, even when he had nothing left.
THE DEBATE
Are Real Madrid fans wrong to boo Mbappe despite his record goal return?
Kylian Mbappe scored Real Madrid's opening goal against Inter Milan on Tuesday
By Ffion Wynne
BBC Sport Journalist
- Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has compared Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr to fruit trees in defending the pair after they were booed by their own fans this week.
Mbappe moved joint-fifth in the list of all-time list of Champions League scorers when he netted the opener in a 2-1 victory against Inter Milan on Tuesday.
But both the Frenchman and Brazilian Vinicius Jr were subjected to jeers from the home support at the Bernabeu.
Both players have been criticised for their lack of defensive work but Mourinho says the criticism is because people "want to get a piece" of the duo.
"In Portuguese, we have a proverb that says we only throw stones at the trees that have fruit," Mourinho said when asked about winger Vinicius Jr.
"So what Vini has done here over recent years - how many CL has he won, how many goals has he scored, how many balls has he won? His achievements speak for themselves so he is the tree that has a lot of fruit on it and people want to get a piece of Vini.
"During this digital era where we have access to so many stats, we can tell that he is very close to getting to his best version. He's even set some records already. The stats and numbers he registers suggest we will see his best version very soon."
Mourinho provided a similar defence of Frenchman Mbappe, who is among the nominees for this year's Ballon d'Or after scoring 42 goals in 44 games for his club last season.
"I want to remind you of the proverb I said before. He is the tree with a lot of fruit," Mourinho added.
"Obviously a player who scores more than 40 goals for a team is never a problem.
"I saw Kylian giving it his all. He was defending like an animal, even when he had nothing left. His attitude is incredible. It is a joy for me to see a player like that."
Despite Mbappe's goals, Real Madrid did not win a trophy last year and Spanish football expert Guillem Balague said that could be one of a few reasons why the home fans were booing.
"I don't think anyone really knows [why]," Balague told 5Live's Euro Leagues podcast.
"There was a bit about the past, of two years of no winning. But the two main stars are not that liked by the fans.
"Mbappe feels a little bit cold, sometimes he can be like Cristiano Ronaldo and he speaks like he is bigger than Real Madrid. And also, he said no to Real Madrid about three times before and maybe they haven't forgotten that - but without Mbappe's goals, the club would be in a very different place.
"And Vinicius worked really hard without the ball, but they just don't forgive him anything even though he did renew his contract. It's a bit of a mystery but I think he is feeling the heat of it."
AI-assisted · generated from BBC Sport reporting, not editor reviewed
