The whistles cut through the Bernabeu night long before the final whistle did.
Real Madrid had just beaten Inter Milan 2-1. Kylian Mbappe had scored again, his latest strike taking him joint-fifth on the all-time Champions League scoring list. Vinicius Jr had run, fought, and worked. Yet when their names were read out, a section of the home crowd chose boos over applause.
Jose Mourinho was never going to let that pass without a response.
Mourinho’s proverb and a divided Bernabeu
“In Portuguese, we have a proverb that says we only throw stones at the trees that have fruit,” Mourinho said, asked specifically about Vinicius.
He knew exactly what he was doing with that image. In one line, he turned the jeers into a backhanded compliment. You don’t attack the barren trees. You go after the ones heavy with fruit.
“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?” Mourinho continued. “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.”
This was not a casual defence. It was a full-throated reminder of status. Vinicius, the winger accused of not tracking back enough, was being reframed as a serial winner whose numbers and medals give him the right to the occasional flaw.
And Mourinho, ever the strategist, leaned into the modern game’s obsession.
“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.”
The message: look at the data, not just the emotion.
Mbappe, the “cold” superstar under fire
Mbappe did not escape the whistles either. This, despite a season in which he scored 42 goals in 44 games for the club and earned a nomination for the Ballon d'Or.
Mourinho reached for the same proverb.
“I want to remind you of the proverb I said before. He is the tree with a lot of fruit,” he said.
Then he stripped the debate back to basics.
“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.”
The criticism aimed at Mbappe has never been purely about output. It rarely is at Real Madrid. At this club, numbers are expected, almost assumed. What gets judged is everything wrapped around them: body language, tone, perceived loyalty, the sense of whether a star feels part of the institution or above it.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague tried to make sense of the hostility.
“I don't think anyone really knows [why],” he 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.”
Two seasons without a trophy at Real Madrid is an eternity. Even a 40-goal striker does not escape that context.
“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.”
That is the paradox. The same supporters who bristle at his aura also know the table would look very different without his finishing.
Vinicius under the microscope
If Mbappe is accused of emotional distance, Vinicius faces a different kind of scrutiny.
“And Vinicius worked really hard without the ball, but they just don't forgive him anything even though he did renew his contract,” Balague said. “It's a bit of a mystery but I think he is feeling the heat of it.”
The Brazilian’s defensive work has been a recurring theme in the criticism. Mourinho flipped that narrative too, pointing to trophies, goals, and the sheer volume of decisive actions he has stacked up in a Madrid shirt. In his eyes, the noise around Vinicius is proof of his importance, not his failings.
Both forwards stand accused of the same sin in different forms: not fitting perfectly into the emotional template some fans demand. One is too cold, the other too combustible. Both, however, are decisive. Both carry the attack. Both are, as Mourinho put it, “trees with a lot of fruit.”
The boos suggest a restless fanbase. The numbers, and Mourinho’s defence, tell another story. At some point, the Bernabeu will have to decide which matters more.
