New Telegraph

Ancelotti can bank on Mr Capable Vinicius to sink Barca

It is baffling that Vinicius Jr is not getting as much plaudits as Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe because the Real Madrid forward ostensibly belongs to the same category as the Manchester City and PSG forwards. Benzema may be the leader of the group at Real Madrid with the Frenchman scoring with breath-taking regularity but Vinicius is proving to be as equally important. Last season was a breakout season for the forward at Real Madrid after having a slow start to life at the Bernabeu; he contributed immensely to the side run to the La Liga and Champions League titles.

In fact, he scored the winner in the final of the Champions League and managed 22 goals in all and provided 20 more assists, as well as Carlo Ancelotti-men, who enjoyed a rollercoaster summer. Vinicius Junior just keeps on getting better. The Brazilian has gone from being an inconsistent but tricky wide player to being one of the most reliable players around, much to Real Madrid’s delight In this form, Vinicius has made himself undroppable at club level – he’s the only Madrid player to have played in every single match this season – and seems to produce more with every game.

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has already spoken about his willingness to use his squad and has made plenty of changes from one match to the next this term as his team juggles playing according to a condensed fixture schedule because of the mid-season World Cup. Dani Carvajal has been first choice at right-back but Lucas Vázquez has come in to start in three of Los Blancos’ 10 competitive games so far.

On the other side, Ferland Mendy has started eight times but has also been left on the bench twice. Eder Militão and David Alaba appear to be Ancelotti’s preferred centre-back pairing, yet summer signing Antonio Rüdiger has started three times in LaLiga and once in the Champions League, with Nacho also making a couple of appearances in the first XI. In midfield, Luka Modric (37) and Toni Kroos (32) have seen their game time managed, with both playing less than 70% of the minutes Real Madrid have played in all competitions this season. Even summer signing Aurélien Tchouaméni, at the other end of his career at 22, has played little more than that figure, while fellow youngster Eduardo Camavinga has been trusted to start on four occasions and had plenty of game time off the bench, easing the workload on his older teammates.

In Ancelotti’s three-man forward line, Rodrygo has proved an able deputy for both Fede Valverde, who has played the third highest number of minutes in the squad this term, and Karim Benzema, who started the first five games of the campaign before picking up an injury in the sixth against Celtic in the Champions League. The Frenchman is now back to lead the attack.

But it is on the left side of the attack where we find Real Madrid’s last man standing – Vinicius Junior. After a back injury forced goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois out of the weekend game against Osasuna, the Brazilian winger is now the only player to have started every game for Real Madrid this season. On top of that, he has lasted until at least the 80th-minute mark in each one, his withdrawal from that clash at Celtic Park with 10 minutes left to play the earliest he has left the field. In total, Vinicius has played 96.2% of all possible minutes so far this season, ahead of David Alaba (89.3%) and Valverde (82%). He had a somewhat bad game when the teams last clashed in La Liga as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 4-1 but he has beco em a different proposition and Anceotti will count on him as he looks to guide his side to the top of the table.

Read Previous

600,000 residents benefit from free eye screening in Lagos

Read Next

Illegal Niger Delta oil deals and our security outfits

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *