Vini Jr Opens Up On Tumultuous Real Locker Room

Vinicius Junior has opened up on the tumultuous Real Madrid locker room and his role in it following the chaos that transpired over the course of the 2025/26 season.

The campaigns saw reports of locker-room and training-ground fights between players, concerns of disunity within the dressing room, Kylian Mbappe being isolated from the rest of the dressing room, and to top it all off, Los Blancos will go trophyless for a second consecutive season.

Comments from those outside the club looking in highlighted the severity of the situation, with former Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti recently saying: "You can feel there's no team."

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Real legend Iker Casillas also admitted concern over the state of his former side, saying that the Spanish giants going two seasons without winning anything is "something to worry about."

Now, Vinicius has addressed the difficult campaign and suggested that the departure of several experienced figures left a major void in the dressing room, while admitting that he and Valverde were not ready to carry the leadership burden.

"It's been a very difficult season. We started well, with a lead over Barca, but we started losing and drawing matches where we shouldn't have," the Brazilian told CazeTV per French Football Weekly.

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"We lost confidence little by little and Barca took the upper hand. It's the first time I've gone two seasons without winning, we failed. We have the team to win next year. Real Madrid always comes back.

"My first year was also very difficult, when Cristiano left. Without Nacho, without Modric, with Carvajal injured, without Kroos. They brought a lot of experience to the team.

"Today, Fede (Valverde) and I have a lot of experience on the pitch, but not in the dressing room. We don't have enough experience to carry this weight, we have to keep learning."

The Brazilian also believes the struggles of this campaign could ultimately strengthen the squad moving forward.

"This season we have learned a lot about the locker room. Next season we will be a better, more united locker room and we will be better as a team.

"We are experiencing a cycle change where we must change our role to help. Sometimes it's good to see what we had and understand that it's not easy to earn everything we've earned.

"I got used to winning, I got used to bad habits. The pressure is enormous, this is part of the best team in the world. People expect us to fail and that's what happened two years in a row. We can no longer afford to fail."