Real Madrid head coach Jose Mourinho delivers honest assessment of Vinicius Junior form

Real Madrid head coach Jose Mourinho has admitted that Vinicius Junior is still short of his best despite providing an assist in the team's 4-1 success over Rayo Vallecano last time out.

It has been a low-key start to the campaign for Vinicius, but he has still managed to come up with one goal and three assists for the capital giants.

Ahead of Tuesday's La Liga clash with Elche, Mourinho admitted that Vinicius is still "missing that top-level performance".

“The best version is scoring. Obviously, assisting is important, very important to work for the team, the commitment, the solidarity, the collective work, the day-to-day effort, which is also important, and he does that very well," Mourinho told reporters.

"But there’s another Vinicius, the Vinicius who eliminated Benfica last season and who, in close matches, especially in the two knockout stage games, had one opportunity, one goal, and sealed the game. He’s missing that top-level performance, but I’m happy with him.”

Vinicius is still searching for his best form this season

Real Madrid are currently second in the La Liga table, three points behind the leaders Barcelona, having won four and lost one of their five matches this term.

Los Blancos will be bidding to join Barcelona on 15 points when they take on Elche.

“I’d like to win, I’d like to play well and win, nothing more. I hope that in three months we are better than we are today, but I have nothing magical to say that in three months we will be at an incredible level. In every match and training session, the goal is always to improve," said Mourinho.

"The more time a coach has to work with a team, the greater the chances of becoming stronger.”

Real Madrid cannot be too reliant on Mbappe for goals

Unsurprisingly, Kylian Mbappe leads the goalscoring charts for Real Madrid this season, having found the back of the net on seven occasions in six appearances.

Jude Bellingham has three, but otherwise no player has scored more than once for Real Madrid in 2026-27, and it is vital that the goals are spread around this term.

Mbappe's record in terms of goals since arriving at Real Madrid is exceptional - 93 in 109 matches - but it would be fair to say that the team have been underwhelming since the Frenchman joined in terms of their trophy cabinet.

The goal machine would certainly sacrifice some personal glory this season if it meant that the team were successful.