The 2025-26 season was a very tough one for Real Madrid, and it was epitomised by off-field clashes in the dressing room. Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde coming to blows earlier this month came as a direct consequence of having few leaders in the squad, which has now been recognised by Vinicius Junior.
Vinicius is part of the Real Madrid captaincy group, but as per Caze TV (via Diario AS), he admitted that he lacks the experience to command the dressing room, although he expects to improve in this regard from next season onwards.
“We don’t have Nacho, Modric or Kroos, and Carvajal was injured. They gave a lot of experience to the team. Now I or Fede have a lot of experience on the pitch, but not in the dressing room. We don’t have enough experience to carry that baggage, we have to keep learning.
“This season we have learned a lot about the dressing room. Next season we will be a better dressing room, more united, better as a team. We are experiencing a change of cycle where we have to change our role to help. Sometimes it’s good to see what you had and understand that it’s not easy to win everything we’ve won. I got used to winning, I got used to bad habits. There’s a lot of pressure, it’s part of the best team in the world. People are waiting for us to fail and we have done it two years in a row. We can’t fail anymore.”
Vinicius: No problems between myself and Mbappe
Vinicius also moved to deny claims that he and Kylian Mbappe are not on good terms, as he revealed that he has a good relationship both on and off the pitch with his Real Madrid teammate.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with Mbappé, also off the pitch. I always sent him a lot of messages to come to Real Madrid. We haven’t been able to play as well as we want and win titles yet, but we can reverse that situation. He’s a good person, he always defends me in interviews or on the pitch, like against Benfica. I would defend him too. He is a legendary player who is going to mark an era at Real Madrid.”
