Vinicius, who started out as Real Madrid's brightest light at the start of this 2020-21 season, is slowly fading. The Brazilian scored two of the first six goals for the white team in the league, two extremely important goals that allowed him to add six points against Valladolid and Levante. In the absence of a superlative version of dribbling, he seemed to have found the aim that had always eluded him. However, the visit to Mönchengladbach changed everything for Vini.
It was a match to forget about the Brazilian: nothing came out and, in the post-match, images of Benzema and Mendy criticizing their performance emerged. “Don't give it to him, he plays against us …”, the forward told the winger, an unfortunate comment that would end up transcending and for which both players settled the controversy in the following training session. But those commented generated a wound that continues to ooze.
Since then, Vinicius has left small drops: an assist for his friend Rodrygo against Inter Milan, a touch of the ball that would end in 0-1 at Sevilla (Bono's own goal), the touch before the goal de Kroos against Athletic on Tuesday night … And in the middle, the feeling that Vinicius is losing his steam, that he tries fewer things and, of the few he does, they come out in a smaller proportion than he used to.
Until the game in Germany, Vinicius averaged 4 dribbling attempts per game and 1.4 successful dribbles per game; after that, his average attempt has dropped to 3.2, although his hit rate in that area has risen to 1.6 good dribbles per game. However, these dribbles come in areas of the field that generate little performance for Real Madrid, almost never as the last man to open the opponent's safe. Against Athletic it was common to see him decline the option of facing and playing back.
Vinicius has also experienced a setback in the auction. Until Borussia's home draw, he shot 1.6 times per game (0.7 between sticks); later, he barely does it 0.7 times per game, 0.2 shots on goal per duel. Little contribution for a regular Real Madrid attacker, which justifies the fact that he has anchored himself in the three goals this season: they haven't scored since October 21, in their home loss to Shakhtar.
The Hazard-Vinicius duel
And the biggest problem is that this drop in Vinicius' performance is coinciding with Hazard's repeated absences, either due to muscle injuries or the coronavirus infection that he overcame weeks ago. For these reasons, the Belgian has barely been able to participate in six games this season (scoring two goals). Everything that Hazard has not been able to play is fertile ground for Vinicius to present his candidacy, since Zidane himself already recognized last year that the presence of the Belgian is the main impediment for the Brazilian. But the definitive explosion does not come, rather it turns into a controlled implosion, just the opposite of what Real Madrid aspires when it thinks of Vinicius, a dribbling tornado that is now barely past a winter shower.