Vinicius Junior’s destabilising ability once again comes in handy for Real Madrid at the biggest stage | OneFootball

Despite the unexpected and controversial loss to Espanyol and the underwhelming draw against Atletico Madrid, there is no doubt that Real Madrid have put in improved performances in the last few weeks than they displayed for most part of the first half of the season.

However, these last few weeks have not really been great for one of the biggest stars in the Merengue team, i.e., Vinicius Junior. He had to miss up to three games in January, two of them in La Liga, following his red card in the game against Valencia, and another in the UEFA Champions League, for his yellow card accumulation.

In his absence, the trio of Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, and Rodrygo Goes, proved to be quite a good attacking line, as Los Blancos scored a total of 10 goals in the matches against Las Palmas, Real Valladolid, and Brest.

The Brazilian star returned to the starting lineup in the game against Espanyol, and the decrease in quality of the Real Madrid attack was quite obvious, as the Merengues were not able to score even a goal and lose three points in that game, allowing Barcelona to get back into the race for the league title.

In these circumstances, rumours of rifts in the Viking’s dressing room grew, and there was also a significant increase in speculation linking the FIFA The Best award holder to a move to Saudi Arabia.

While these issues may not have died down permanently, these were pushed into the background as Vinicius once again showcased his destabilising ability to get his Real Madrid team a very important 2-3 win against Manchester City in the first leg of the playoff match for the Round of 16.

Once again, the Brazilian was still not at his best on the night, which is showcased by some of his statistics on the night.

As Sofascore has noted, he won only 4 of the 10 ground duels in which he was involved, neither of his 2 attempted crosses were accurate, and his passing was also below the expected standards, as he completed only 18 of his 24 attempted passes, recording a 75% success rate. Vinicius also missed 1 big chance and hit the crossbar another time.

But ultimately, it was his proactivity that allowed Real Madrid to get the victory in this game. He remained dangerous on the left wing, creating several chances for his teammates, and had a total of 5 key passes in the game, creating 2 big chances.

However, his most useful contributions came in a rather abrupt manner, and, one can argue, in ways that the Brazilian himself might not have intended them.

For instance, in the 85th minute, when his team had already gone behind 2-1, Vinicius combined with Brahim Diaz to make his way into the Manchester City box, and took a shot that his compatriot, Ederson, saved. Luckily for the merengues, the rebound fell straight to Brahim Diaz’s feet, who made no mistake sending the ball into the back of the net.

Then, in the first minute of injury time, the Samba star showed amazing energy in the dying minutes of the game to win a ball from Rico Lewis and continue his charge towards the Manchester City goal. Seeing an advancing Ederson, the winger lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper, but his attempted shot was going well wide of target.

However, Jude Bellingham, who was once again making a run into the box despite it being the very last minutes of the game, was at hand to win the race against John Stones and put the ball into the back of an empty net.

Thus, while some issues remain in his game, it was Vinicius’ relentless drive to continue trying to make things happen that helped Real Madrid get this important win against Pep Guardiola’s side.

The Merengues still have to ensure they make this advantage count in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, but hopefully, the Brazilian star will once again be there to punish the Citizens as they look to get a goal.